Shale…I think I’ve seen enough. She hoped that some of the Raiders got away, but it really didn’t matter, did it? As far as she knew, that army of Raiders had been some of the best that there were, or at least the best of who they could get together in such a short time. There were hundreds of thousands of Raiders out there, though, but even if they were able to get them all together, it seemed an impossibility that they would be able to defeat these invaders without a lot of luck on their side.
The Perception Link disappeared after that, and she was left looking at her Core Room in concern. A minute passed before both Shale and Lapis appeared, and for once she couldn’t find the strength to hate the Head Instructor. She still didn’t like him, but the hatred required some effort to bring forth, which she didn’t have it in her.
“That…wasn’t good. How could they lose like that?” Shale was nearly breathless in shock.
“Malachite did say that they had most likely killed the entire Conclave of Sages, who were the most powerful Raiders in the world, without appearing to have too much trouble,” Lapis said matter-of-factly. He sounded calm, but Tacca could see that his hands were shaking uncontrollably. “It isn’t unreasonable to think that any others would have more luck, even a massive army of them like the one we just saw get wiped out.” The Head Instructor was silent for a moment, before quietly adding, “I don’t know what to do….”
What can we do? It’s not like we can attack them, after all. It was only a random fluke that I was able to kill the ones that attacked my dungeon; I’m not sure I could pull that off again, especially if they came in numbers like that. The one consolation she could see was that the red-colored monster person was too large to even fit through her tunnels, so she didn’t have to worry about it. Granted, it wasn’t much comfort considering how dangerous the others were.
No one had an answer, and the silence inside of her Core Room quickly became oppressive. Without saying another word, only giving out a long sigh, the Head Instructor used his Translocation ability to disappear with a *pop*.
That just left Shale and Tacca’s Core alone, and the depressive thoughts that seemed to submerge both of them in a tidal wave of disappointment.
Chapter 22
Congratulations, Tacca GloomLily!
You have reached Assistant Rank: Expert
You have reached Assistant Stage: 4
Current Experience Countdown: 7808/13900 in 5 years
Maximum Fairy Mana: +1200
Fairy Mana Regeneration: +40 per minute
Unimaginable pain abruptly ripped through her Core, so powerful that Tacca thought she was about to shatter. The agony felt as if it lasted forever, but in reality it probably only lasted a few moments; regardless, it was the suddenness of it that took her by surprise and left her unprepared for the shock of torturous pain.
“…Tacca! A…...ay? …ppened?”
The world slowly came back into focus and her thoughts were sluggish, and she could barely make out a voice she recognized shouting something. After another few minutes, she was able to fully concentrate on her Core Room, as well as her frantic Dungeon Assistant fluttering around her Core.
“Tacca? Are you there? What’s going on?”
I…I’m here. I’m not sure—wait. Give me a moment.
She concentrated on the notification she had received, which had been pushed to the corner of her mind after the horrific torment she had just endured.
I…increased my Assistant Rank?
With all of the things going on lately, what with creating a place for the Raiders to live, to working on her new section, to the disturbing battle she had witnessed between the invaders and Raiders, she had completely forgotten that her year to another increase in Dungeon Assistant Ranking was coming up. At the back of her mind, she knew about it, but it had also been a bit overshadowed with other concerns.
She pulled up her Dungeon Assistant Information in order to see what had changed, while at the same time being glad that the pain had passed. For now, she only felt a little uncomfortable, like she was wearing a Mood Dress that was too small for her.
Dungeon Assistant Information
Assistant Name:
Tacca GloomLily
Assistant Rank:
Expert
Assistant Stage:
4/5
Experience:
7808/13900
Experience Pending/Countdown:
0 in 5 years
Fairy Mana (FM):
435/1550
Fairy Mana Regeneration:
55 per minute
Abilities:
Bond
Instant – Multiple
50+ FM
Omen Charge
Instant – Distance
10+ FM
Translocation
Instant
1000 FM
Blinding Flash
Instant
150 FM
Shattering Icicle
Instant
600 FM
Shared Risk
Automatic
0 FM
Leadership
Sustainable
75 FM per minute
Light Cage
Sustainable
300 FM per minute
Flame Wall
Sustainable
500 FM per minute
Mass Confusion
Sustainable
700 FM per minute
Assistant Information Meld
Sustainable
1 FM per minute
Electrified Pacification
Sustainable
250 FM per minute
Healing Aura
Sustainable
20 FM per minute
Hibernate
Sustainable
1 FM per minute
Invisibility
Sustainable
3 FM per minute
Repellant Shield
Sustainable
2 FM per minute
Locked (11)
Variable
Variable
What the…? Two of the great benefits of increasing her Rank to Expert Stage 4 was the additional Fairy Mana she had access to (1,350 FM), as well as its regeneration rate (55 FM per minute). It was unfortunate that she hadn’t been able to reach Expert Stage 5, the same as Shale, but she knew that her 95% reduction in Core Improvement gains at the start of her existence as a Core had reduced the amount of Experience she had received as an Assistant, but Shale hadn’t suffered from that. Now that things were more even, she would progress just as quickly in the future.
Regardless, Stage 4 still meant she could finally use her Translocation ability – which she absolutely didn’t want to try unless she had no other choice, after hearing what happened to those Cores that Malachite had moved around; in addition, she also had access to 8 new abilities!
Some of them were self-explanatory, such as the Flame Wall being able to create a wall of flames that would surround her core, the Blinding Flash which would create an extremely bright light that would blind anyone looking at it, the Light Cage which formed a large cage of pure bars of light that could trap just about any person within it for as long as her FM held out (though, she doubted it would work against those monstrous invaders), or the Shattering Icicle, which created and then exploded a chunk of ice that would be propelled out from a chosen location like little icicles.
What wasn’t so self-explanatory, however, were the other 4 abilities she had gained. When she concentrated on Mass Confusion, she found that it was something that would affect her entire dungeon, causing—what else?—everything inside to suffer from debilitating confusion – even her own creatures.
Leadership was a sustainable ability that increased the Creature Level of any creatures within two rooms of her current location by 2 full Levels. That could be quite useful if she needed to strengthen her Werewolf Warrior or the Forest Wolves inside her Boss Room, for instance.
But the last two were completely blank when
she concentrated on them: Omen Charge and Shared Risk. Omen Charge was an instant-use ability with the potential for multiple targets based on distance, starting at 10 FM; Shared Risk, on the other hand, was a type of ability she’d never heard of before – Automatic. It cost her nothing to use, fortunately, but it appeared that it was always activated. Unfortunately, she had no idea what it actually did.
Well, Shale, it appears as though I’m a bit stronger now as a “Fairy”, but I don’t know exactly how.
Tacca explained the different abilities she had gained, also noticing that her “Locked” abilities had been reduced from 17 to 11. If she was looking at things right, then it was most likely that 6 of the abilities she had received had been from the ones that Malachite had originally possessed and she obtained through her Bond with him, while 2 of them were entirely hers. She didn’t have to think long on which 2 abilities those would be, seeing as she couldn’t fathom what 2 of them did.
“Maybe the Shared Risk ability means you share the risk of existing with…me?” Shale ventured after hearing about the strange ability. After a few seconds he shook his head. “No, that doesn’t make sense, especially considering that I’m already at risk if you were to get hurt.”
Yeah, I’m not exactly sure, either. Regardless, I have to admit that the pain of going through that Rank up was worth it.
“What? Why? Because you have more Fairy Mana now?”
No, because it kicked me out of the funk I was in after witnessing…what we did.
Shale just stared at her Core for a moment, before smiling half-heartedly. “I have to admit that my concern for you did sort of push everything else to the side. I’m not quite over it yet, but I can think of other things now, I guess.”
True, there’s no forgetting what’s out there, but that doesn’t mean we have to give up just yet. A solution to the problem could present itself at any time. Tacca was ready to get moving again, and she remembered with some excitement the new section she was going to show her Dungeon Assistant. Sadly, its importance paled in comparison to the danger looming towards the north, but there really wasn’t anything she could do about that. What she could do, though, was try build the best darn dungeon anyone had ever seen.
A lofty goal, yes, but one she wished to strive for.
In fact, would you be able to invite the other Assistants in the Nursery? I’d really like to show them this, as well as the Hall and farms. It’s a bit busy in there at the moment, as they are already starting to move in, but it might help them change their minds. Or at least change their Cores’ minds.
“Sure, we’ll meet you in the Hall, and then we can check out your new…project.” He smiled again as he disappeared, the shock and horror of earlier in the day starting to fade. Five minutes later, all of the Fairies were near the ceiling of the Hall, looking down on the hustle and bustle going on down below them.
They’re finishing up the preparations now, and from what I’ve overheard they expect everyone to be in here tomorrow. Shortly after that, the first of the snows and freezing cold should be coming, which will keep them all trapped inside of here for a little over a month – at least until the ice melts.
“I’ll say it again, this is crazy,” Tulip said, but Tacca could see that she was intrigued by everything she saw. The others were in similar states, and she just hoped that meant that they would go back and convince at least one of their Cores to attempt connecting to the Hall. As sad as it seemed, after witnessing the deaths of so many Raiders in their attempt to stop the invading people, risking herself in such an endeavor wasn’t nearly as scary of a risk as it used to be.
The Dungeon Assistants looked around for a time while invisible, amazed that there were so many people inside of a dungeon, even if it didn’t look like any dungeon they’d ever seen before. When they were done, she invited them to see the project she had planned for when the snows came, a way to entertain the masses, so to speak.
“You built…what…an arena?”
Precisely. It isn’t just enough to allow a dozen or two groups of Raiders to venture through my other dungeon sections every day, because there are too many that are going to be living here for that to be satisfactory. Instead, I think I found a way to occupy more than just a few at a time – but instead thousands.
The giant room, basically a 500-foot-wide circular room with 4 giant columns of stone supporting the ceiling, had been built out along the edges with tiered stands made from multi-colored stone. There were four main sections, which corresponded with north, south, east, and west, and each section was colored with a different stone; red sandstone for the north, blue banded gneiss for the south, green epidote for the east, and yellow carnotite for the west. This gave it a very vibrant feel to the room, which was further decorated with painstakingly formed smoky quartz sheathings around the stone columns. A light-blue gemstone called larimar was used to decorate the ceiling, creating a cloudy sky-like texture that Tacca hoped made the room she created feel like it was outside.
As for the giant columns holding up that light-blue ceiling, they were positioned at the four corners of the arena floor, located at the northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest corners, meaning that the multi-colored stands were basically separated from each other. A lot of floor space was needed, as well, so there was a 40,000 square foot area where all of the action was going to take place. As for what that action was going to involve, that was a little more complicated.
“Where are your creatures going to come from? I don’t see how this will work if there are thousands of people in here,” Tulip asked. She seemed to be the spokesFairy for the group, which was fine with Tacca.
Ah, well that ended up being the most difficult part, but I borrowed an idea I had from my Boss Room. Remember the Werewolves?
“Yes, I do, but—oh. I see. Very clever.”
While the stands were located on the edges of the room, they were also elevated 50 feet off of the thinly soil-covered arena floor. Simple stone stairs were all that were needed for those watching to reach their seats, which were located behind the large stone columns. The elevations allowed for Tacca to create tunnels that led underneath the stands and out of the room at an angle, where she placed 4 much smaller rooms in each direction, totaling 16 in all.
These rooms were unique in the fact that they were sharply angled and closed off from the tunnel by a Rotating Stone Bridge trap. The way it worked with the two types of Werewolf Warriors was that Tacca would activate one of the traps when a particular difficulty was needed, and the creature would slide down a short tunnel when the trap rotated, spitting it out into the room. She used the same principle here, though the slide was much longer, the angled rooms a bit bigger, and the tunnels much taller and wider. She even designed one of the rooms and its connecting tunnel so that it was larger than all of the rest, just in case she was able to place a creature in it that required a lot of space.
Theoretically, at any given time, she would have the rooms filled with creatures of different types and difficulties, and when she wanted to release some into the arena, she would just activate the trap, it (or they) would slide down and be ejected into the fight. As soon as they were slain, another batch of them would start to replenish itself automatically. Easy, simple, and hopefully straightforward to maintain.
Of course, what it essentially meant to run the arena was a complete shutdown of her other dungeon sections, but she was hoping that her idea would banish the need for them. At least, temporarily.
I also have thoughts of doing some sort of trap-based obstacle course, setting it up when fights have ended for the day, just to keep it interesting. Anyone have any ideas?
That got the other Assistants really excited, as they started to offer suggestions, their voices trying to be heard over each other, before they trailed off after a few minutes and looked at each other.
“We have to get our Cores involved in this somehow. You all do your best to convince them, and I’ll do the same,” Tulip said to the gr
oup. Turning to Shale and addressing Tacca at the same time, she continued. “Thank you for showing us all of this. There is a lot to consider, and I hope we can convince one of our Cores to attempt connecting with this marvelous series of rooms you’ve constructed. Hopefully, you’ll hear from us soon.” With that, they took their leave, Translocating back to the Nursery and their respective Cores.
What do you think? Was it a success? And what do you think of my arena?
“I have to admit, you really thought this through. I suppose you’re going to give rewards after the fights?”
Of course.
He nodded. “As for whether or not you did enough to convince the other Cores, we’ll just have to see. I really don’t think you could’ve done any more than that, to tell the truth.”
That was true, she had done everything she could. It was just about lockdown time, though, because in approximately 24 hours the cold would descend upon the area and make travel outside extremely difficult, if not deadly. Shortly after that, the snows would start, sealing everyone in.
While she waited for a decision, it was time to connect everything up, or at least as far as she wanted to before everything was put into motion. Connecting the 3rd section to the start of her defensive room was easy enough, but the tunnel from her arena to the Hall was going to take a little longer. She made it quite large and spacious, mainly because it was going to be over a mile long in length, which took a lot more time than just about anything else she had constructed. By the time she was done, the last of the Raider groups delving through her dungeon left, and she essentially shut them down for the season.
The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3) Page 21