The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3)

by Jonathan Brooks

  She couldn’t provide food as an environmental object, or even as a Reward, and while living off of Minor Healing Potions was an option – which she thought was technically possible – she wasn’t prepared to make thousands of them every day in order to keep everyone alive. Nor did she have the available Dungeon Force to do that, even if she wanted to.

  Tacca was about to dismiss their call for help as impossible, etching a note on the floor of the exit as they left to that effect, but she suddenly remembered how enamored Sterge had been of the dirt when he had first stepped into her dungeon. It was almost as if he was more fascinated by its rich texture than anything else in the room, and she had wondered why at the time. Now, though, after everything she had learned about the two Hill Dwarves and the surrounding area at the bottom of the mountain, she knew why: He was a farmer before he became a Raider.

  Was he looking at the dirt because it was perfect for farming? Or was that just my imagination?

  “Well, your environmental objects are certainly full of Dungeon Force, which allows them to hold onto and grow your plants so quickly, even after they are destroyed,” her Dungeon Assistant mentioned. “But I don’t see how that could possibly matter—”

  Shale couldn’t see it, but Tacca could. I think I have a plan. You’re definitely not going to like it, but I think it could be beneficial not only to me, but to the other Dungeon Cores in the nursery, as well.

  “Oh, no – what are you planning?” She briefly told him her thoughts even as Gwenda and the others started looking for the exit. As she had thought, he wasn’t pleased. “You are out of your mind, you know that?”

  I know, but you love it. Makes things interesting, doesn’t it?

  “Interesting? Maybe. Dangerous? Absolutely.”

  Tacca couldn’t help but giggle as she quickly etched a note on the floor of the exit tunnel, where the Raider group would see it on their way out.

  Look towards the east in two weeks’ time,

  Where you’ll find the answer at Wentrylock’s base.

  That was it. She wanted to add more, but she ran out of time as they activated the Rotating Stone Bridge trap blocking the exit tunnel and entered. They stared at the two lines of text she had placed on the floor, shrugging at each other when they were done.

  “That…doesn’t really tell us much, does it? I mean, it doesn’t actually say that the dungeon will help, only that there will be an answer to the east in 2 weeks. Will that answer be yes or no?” Mordecai asked.

  “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

  You certainly will see…something. Now I’ve got to get on it, before I run out of time. There were only about 2 months left before the first vestiges of winter hit, so she had to get moving.

  As soon as they left, passing through her exit tunnel to the outside, Shale professed his doubts. “This is a major undertaking, Tacca. And I’m not sure you should be doing it in the first place. It could be extremely dangerous.”

  I know, but it could also be a nice solution, too. In fact, you should probably let Malachite know about what I’m planning, so that there is some transparency here.

  “Are you sure? I can keep it a secret if you want.”

  Yes, I’m sure. Besides, this’ll be just like the Nursery he had me build, so it’s only fair.

  Her Dungeon Assistant looked skeptical. “I’m not sure you can compare the two, but I see what you’re getting at.” Shale sighed heavily. “Fine, I’ll tell him tomorrow, when I can see what exactly you have in mind. I would like to make it plain, though, that I’m not fully on board with this, though I could change my mind once I’ve seen the sorts of precautions you put in place.”

  Don’t worry, it’ll be safe. I’m not reckless, just unlucky.

  “I wouldn’t say you’re all that unlucky, Tacca.”

  What do you mean? Of course I am.

  “Well, you somehow miraculously survived being destroyed, you’ve developed your Core faster than any other Core in the history of the world, and you have thousands of Raiders wanting to delve through your dungeon. Plus, there’s one other thing you have that disproves your theory.”

  And what’s that?

  “You have an awesome Dungeon Assistant, that’s what. I’d say you’re pretty lucky.” He smiled at her Core innocently, and she couldn’t help but be affected by it.

  You sure are the modest type, aren’t you?

  “You know it. Anyway, quit talking and get to work, especially if you’re going to get these highly dangerous, unpredictable, and potentially world-shaping changes done in the two weeks you’ve allotted for it.”

  Yes, yes – I’m working on it as we speak.

  This was either going to be the greatest thing a Dungeon Core had ever tried…or it was going to blow up in her figurative face. Either way, it was an exciting time to be a Core.

  Chapter 18

  Tacca started the project off to the east, near where she had created some of the first Nursery spaces, though much nearer to the surface. Digging a 3-inch-wide tunnel was easy enough to do to get there, and once she was where she wanted to start – approximately 100 feet away from the hillside surface at the bottom of the Wentrylock mountain range – Tacca began by making a massive room. It was slow-going, since she could only remove so much dirt and rock at a time, but it was still worlds faster now that she was CI Level 21 compared to when she had first constructed her original dungeon over a year ago. The Dungeon Force required to Carve Earth was fairly negligible, too – at only 5 DF per minute – which was easily supplemented by Shale with his Transmutation ability, or even at the expense of making those Raiders outside wait for an extra couple of minutes before their turn was up.

  By the time night rolled around, she had managed to Carve out a rectangular-shaped room, 100 feet tall, 50 wide, and 10 feet deep. It was the height and width she wanted, now all she needed to do was deepen it further into the mountains, until it was at least 500 feet deep. In order to support all of the weight above, she had learned through experimentation that she needed some columns in the middle of the room, which she started building out of the stone that most of her dungeon was composed of. Thick, 5-foot-square pillars reached up to the ceiling, holding up the roof of the room with preternatural strength, until nothing short of the mountain collapsing would shift even the slightest portion of her creation.

  Even though it took a little concentration, and she wasn’t technically doing it for herself, she had to admit that she was having fun with the scope of her objective. The next 12 hours were spent deepening the room, until it was 50 feet deep, then 100, and finally 150 feet; a column every 30 feet was required for support, but otherwise the rest of the space was basically empty – though it wouldn’t be for long.

  “Tacca, are you okay if I skip out for a moment and let the Council Leader know what’s going on? I think it’s about time, especially if you’re still thinking about…you know.”

  Sure, Shale – I’ll just be here building.

  Her Dungeon Assistant Translocated out from her Core Room, and Tacca immediately felt the loss of the Energy Transmutation he had been providing. Focusing on who was going through her two dungeon sections, however, she thought she would be fine right now even without it. Her original dungeon was fairly negligible when it came to the DF required to restock everything, but her newest one was only resource intensive when she had multiple groups going through the more difficult part one after another. Right now there was only a low-Level Raider group going through the easier part, taking their time; she was already automatically replacing what they had killed behind them, so it was easy enough to manage her DF flow.

  She was an hour into the continued Carving of her project when she suddenly heard from Shale.

  “Tacca, we’ve got a problem!”

  What’s wrong?

  There was silence for a little bit, before she was suddenly connected to his mind and saw what he was seeing and experiencing through his Perception Link. She was confused for a m
oment at what she was looking at, as the change was a bit abrupt, but the next second she figured it out: it was a dungeon entrance. Shale flew inside, passing over the threshold…and she felt nothing through his Link.

  She had learned over her multiple Bondings when she was a Dungeon Assistant that there was a subtle “tingle” in her senses when entering a dungeon that made each one of them unique. It was hard to feel it when Translocating inside, but when flying in from outside, that “tingle” was more than obvious. When Shale flew inside this dungeon, there was no “tingle”; needless to say, the dungeon was dead – and so was the Dungeon Core.

  Shale, the Core has been destroyed?

  “Yes. Hold on, I’ll show you.” Her Dungeon Assistant flew through the multiple rooms quite quickly, as there was nothing impeding his flight: no traps to avoid, no creatures to watch out for, and no environmental objects to weave around. In less than a minute, he was inside of the Core Room, where she saw the remnants of a Dungeon Core, the shattered shards of it on the floor.

  This…is horrible, Shale. But why are you showing me this? Have those invaders started destroying Cores again?

  He physically nodded his head, and Tacca could feel his heart beating faster in his chest as he started to panic. “Yes, they’ve started again, though I’m not sure how many have been destroyed before this one. The reason I’m showing you this one, however, is because this is the last dungeon the Council Leader visited…before he disappeared.”

  He’s gone? What do you mean?

  “I mean exactly that – he hasn’t shown up anywhere in the last few hours, despite a veritable army of Fairies out looking. I talked to the Head Instructor right before I contacted you, and he gave me some disturbing news.”

  More disturbing than Malachite vanishing?

  Another nod. “It seems that in 82% – Lapis’ numbers, not mine – of those Cores thought to or known to be destroyed by these 6-armed monster people, the bodies of their Dungeon Assistants were never found. Some had been killed around the same time as their Cores and their remains were discovered later in the dungeon, but the rest were missing.”

  How was this not seen before? And what exactly does it mean?

  “Well, the Head Instructor blames himself. Some of his data concerning the lack of bodies had been combined with the other attacks committed by Raiders, where their Fairies were stolen away after being killed, so it wasn’t until he looked through everything again that he found it.”

  Tacca could see how that might be a little confusing, especially when she thought back at what happened with her Mentor, Cobalt. Those Raiders had destroyed the Core, which killed Cobalt as he was still Bonded to her; afterwards, they had picked up his body while she hid in a crack in a wall, saying something about it being a big payday. She wasn’t sure what they were doing with it, but she could only assume that there was some sort of bounty regarding Dungeon Assistant Fairies – the thought of which made her want to shudder in revulsion.

  “As for what it means, Lapis thought it might mean a few things. One, they are doing something with their remains, of which the Head Instructor has no clue what that could be. Or two, which he thought more likely, is that those who are missing are still alive. Why, and in what state they are in, no one knows.”

  Tacca’s mind reeled at the possibilities. It didn’t take her long to connect it to what happened at the DPRC. And if that is the case, then the rest of the Council might still be alive, as well.

  “That’s what the Head Instructor considered, but he didn’t have enough information to know for sure.” Shale was quiet again, as the panic he had been experiencing began to subside. “What are we going to do?”

  Tacca had no answer for him – at least not one that he wanted. I don’t know, Shale, I really don’t. All we can do is keep things running here, and hope that Malachite shows up soon, or else the Head Instructor finds some way to combat these monsters. Now, get yourself safely back here before they decide to show up again. She doubted they would, but she didn’t really know enough about them to know for sure.

  “On my way.”

  A few seconds later, Shale popped into her Core Room, looking frightened out of his wits. Tacca couldn’t really blame him, though, especially after learning that the most powerful Fairy on the planet had likely just been taken.

  Calm down; it will be okay, Shale. Now, since we don’t have the Council Leader to consult, we’re going to have to do this without permission. Not that we wouldn’t attempt it anyway, but I’d prefer to have someone at least a little more knowledgeable approving something like this before we did it.

  “We could always ask Head Instructor Lapis—”

  Nope, no, don’t think so. I still don’t like him, so the less I have to deal with him, the better; he’d probably want to come here, and I really can’t stand him any more than I could months ago.

  She was well aware that it was highly irrational to have such hatred toward the Head Instructor of DAPS, but that was how it was; he had based his prejudice against her because of her birth, not for any other reason. She had felt a similar hatred toward Lily and even the Council Leader at one point, though that had subdued somewhat after learning why they had done what they had done – even if it was torture on Tacca’s mind and body. Malachite had even apologized for what they had done in placing her with Cores they wanted removed, even though she had her doubts if he had even been directly responsible for what had been done to her.

  She was, in no way, ready to forgive the Head Instructor for the emotional abuse he propagated during her schooling.

  “Fine; I suppose I can understand.” Shale sighed. “I suppose you want me to gather up the other Assistants?”

  Yes, please. We have a lot we need to go over, and without Malachite heading up our leadership, we’re basically on our own here.

  Her Dungeon Assistant disappeared a few moments later using his Translocation ability, and Tacca busied herself in continuing her excavation of the giant room she was working on. No more than 15 minutes later, Shale returned with 6 other Fairies in tow, none of whom she recognized – though she knew that these were the Dungeon Assistants assigned to the Cores in her Nursery.

  One after another, Tacca used her Bond to connect with all of them, which provided them with the Core Communication ability so she could speak with them. Sadly, she didn’t receive anything in return, like she had with Malachite or Lapis; she figured this was because she still had 17 “Locked” abilities she had yet to see, and whatever she would’ve gotten from these Fairies were likely duplicates.

  When the 4 female and 2 male Fairies had been Bonded, the process of which clearly surprised the heck out of them, she spoke to all of them at the same time.

  Welcome! Sorry for the abrupt Bonding, but I needed to be able to speak with you all, especially if we’re going to be working together in the very near future.

  “What did you just do! How is this possible?” one of the female Fairies asked, which reminded Tacca that she really needed to learn their names.

  “You’ll find that Tacca’s Core is a bit unique, and this is just one of the unique abilities she has,” Shale offered before Tacca could speak. “Because it would be better for everyone involved to know the exact situation here, I feel it is better if some truths were let out in the open before we get started.”

  Do you really think that is a good idea—? Tacca asked him privately.

  He replied mentally, keeping the communication solely to her. “Yes, otherwise this won’t work. Trust me, it’s better this way.”

  She did trust him, so she let him have his way. Besides, he was much better suited to interacting with other Dungeon Assistants than she was, mainly because Tacca had avoided any type of social interaction when she was in school.

  While Tacca tried not to cringe every other moment, Shale started a lengthy explanation of what had happened to her and how she ended up in a Core, though she was thankful that he left out the majority of her experiences before that happen
ed. Then again, it was quite possible that they knew who she was and about her reputation as “The Deliverer”, but none of them showed any type of visible reaction to her name.

  Shale also described what had happened since she had become a Core, how she built her dungeon, and the improvements she had made. That definitely had a reaction, and before she could stop them, they asked Tacca’s Dungeon Assistant for a tour of her dungeon. They were practically gushing over the Rotating Stone Bridges used as exit doorways, the exit tunnels themselves, and the way she used a creature at the entrance to signal when the next group of Raiders could enter. But what they especially liked, over all of that, was how she had such a wide variety of creatures.

  “…and let me tell you, it was crazy how many Core Improvement Points she missed out on until she was able to remove those negative Special Characteristics, but you can see that it was worth it. This is something that you can advise your Cores to consider – once they increase their Level enough to afford so many SCPs, of course. Now that we know that a family of creatures will work as a choice, the ‘All Variants’ Characteristic is very powerful.”

  Hearing Shale tell the others about her exploits with pride in his voice made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and she had to admit that it felt good being able to pass on the knowledge she had acquired – even if it were through an intermediary like her Assistant.

  “But how did she accomplish so much in so little time?” one of the new Fairies asked.

  “Well, that is another unique part of her Core. Her Point countdowns had been shrunk from 1 year to 1 month for the first 20 Core Improvement Levels, which made her advancement quite rapid.”