That actually made a bit of sense to Sandra, because it was true that he didn’t really have much to contribute to the whole thing. She was going to ask him to help with any information he had about planting the “samples” she had taken from the Dwarves’ fields, because farming had been more of a profession rather than a craft to her in the past. She had some knowledge of it from some of the other crafting information she had pursued, but other than being able to make it grow, the types of food she was going to plant she had no clue about – unlike many of the other plants she had already grown and cultivated, because they had alternative uses.
But if he was willing to fight for his people, to delve through the dungeon with the intent of destroying the Core, then he could definitely be a big help. It would probably take a little to get him up to speed with controlling this Deep Diver if it was anything like the War Machine, but that might actually be a good thing. It would allow her to continue to build up her forces so that there was no way they would be in danger of losing; overkill was something she would rather experience than the risk that they wouldn’t succeed.
* Fine, if we’re building one already, we might as well build another one and you can come along if you like. Just remember that it’s extremely dangerous and you may not make it back alive— *
“I’m going too.”
* You too, Echo? Why? It’s nowhere even near your lands and there’s no reason for you to risk yourself. Gerold and Felbar I can understand – even if I don’t agree – because they were either in charge of culling the undead or at risk of falling to them, but that doesn’t apply to you. *
“For the simple reason of what they are, Sandra: undead. Our people hate undead dungeons and immediately stamp them out when they are found, even if their dungeon monsters drop the rarest, most valuable loot,” she said, before she hesitated. “Well, we’d probably cull them for a couple of weeks to get that loot if it were something really valuable to us, but then we would destroy it so completely that you’d never even know it was there.”
By that time Sandra had given up trying to convince the others that it was too dangerous, so she didn’t argue with the Elf. Besides, she was secretly happy that they were willing to work together – even if it was through an intermediary (namely, Sandra) – to accomplish a task. From the history of the area, as far as she knew it, such a thing hadn’t happened in centuries, ever since Wester and his dungeon threatened all four races; it was only through banding together that they were able to defeat him and his elemental dragons. In complete contrast to that, Sandra was there to bring them together…not to destroy her, but to work together to secure their continued survival against the other dungeons.
Echo wasn’t done, though. “I’m also hoping that this will prove to Wyrlin and the others he has gathered that you’re not what they think, and that you’re actually here to help. There’s nothing like destroying an undead dungeon to get us Elves on your side.”
* Wait…what was that about Wyrlin? *
“Oh, sorry – that was the news I overheard back in Avensglen. Apparently, Wyrlin has managed to spread his message that I’m under your thrall and that you’re planning on making slaves of all of us. They’re only rumors right now, but even if what those rumors say are even partly true, then it’s possible that he’s gathered maybe a dozen or so followers that are intent on destroying you,” Echo said nonchalantly, like it was no big deal. It’s a big deal to me! “Like I said earlier, though, I highly doubt they would attack for a while, especially as I heard that he and his followers are heading to the capital looking for additional support.”
* Uh…that sounds like it was pretty important to know, Echo. How long do you think I have until I should be worried? *
“Hopefully years, because I also heard that the response from the Energy Orbs I’ve been delivering have been thoroughly welcomed, and it’s not likely that they will gain much support there.” She shrugged. “The distance is too great for much better information, so your guess is as good as mine.”
Sandra couldn’t even devote enough of her mind to think about something that may or may not occur in the future, because there was way too much to do.
* Fine, then; I’m going to ignore that unless I have some more information regarding imminent danger, because if you’re all coming along then we have a lot of work to do…and not a lot of time to do it. *
That was absolutely true; by adding the three that were coming along – Sandra was very glad Violet hadn’t insisted on going – it would add to the list of things that needed to be done. On the flip side, Echo’s accompaniment might solve a problem the Dungeon Core had been worried about earlier…
* * *
Echo watched in fascination as very thin, narrow lengths of yew wood appeared on the table in Sandra’s woodworking shop, until they stopped at 40. Right next to them were 10 even thinner sheets of what Sandra said was titanium, so thin that when she first picked one up it was a bit wobbly and flopped around – unlike any type of metal she’d seen before. All of that was joined by a cylindrical-looking titanium tube that she couldn’t see the purpose of.
When Sandra said she was going to help make another bow for her, this wasn’t exactly what she was thinking of. When she had made her current bow, she had collected yew wood loot over a period of time, before asking one of the other Rangers who had access to the Natural element to “connect them together”. It wasn’t as perfect as finding a single piece of yew wood to make a bow, but sometimes it allowed the bow to be stronger, with less likelihood of cracking.
Once they were all pieced together to make one large rod, she had painstakingly used her time off to bend and shave off portions of the wood after it was briefly soaked in water, making the wood more flexible. Over a few days of work, she had slowly curved the new bow so that when it was pulled by the string connected to it the wood bent evenly in all the right places, indicating a strong structure to it. After a few times using it, she had made what some might say were imperceptible adjustments to it, but it worked perfectly after that.
That was before it was broken by Wyrlin and she needed to have it mended using some Natural elemental energy again.
There were those who specialized in bow-making using their energy, of course, and their bows were some of the best you could obtain. However, the effort in their production usually meant that they were rather rare, and for someone like Echo – or any of the other Rangers in Avensglen – it was unlikely that she’d ever get her hands on one of their quality. The rest of them had to make do with what they could craft themselves, applying techniques passed down from generation to generation and using locally obtained wood for that purpose.
She had been lucky to have acquired enough yew wood to make her bow, but now that Sandra had demonstrated that she could create it on demand, she was confused as to what, exactly, she was doing. “What is all this for?”
* This bow is going to be a little different from what you’re used to, but many of the bows I’ve seen crafted were what we call “composite” bows, made from altering layers of materials to aid with strength under pressure – as well as allowing for some specific enchantments to be placed on it. *
Looking across at herself was starting to become “normal” – it’s clothed at least – as Sandra liked her Shapeshifters to use her body to perform more delicate tasks, as well as for enchanting. The thin boards and metal definitely qualified for a delicate task, as she could imagine one of the metal Apes she had would probably crack the yew wood as soon as they were picked up with its large fingers. She didn’t blame the dungeon for wanting to use the right “tool” for the task, but she couldn’t deny that it was still a little unnerving.
Rather than explain any further, her copy started to pick up the different pieces on the table, slotting them into a spot that she didn’t even notice on the titanium tube; at first she thought Sandra was just randomly placing them inside the small slot, but after a while she seemed to see a pattern. She started with 6 of the yew
lengths on one side, before adding 1 of the titanium sheets, then 2 more yew, then another titanium sheet, and so on until there were a total of 5 titanium sheets separated by 2 yew, ending with another 6 at the end.
Then she did the exact same thing on the other side, until Echo could finally begin to see something take shape. It looked very unlike any bow she had seen before; in fact, it really just looked like a really odd stick. Before she could say anything, the other Echo closed her eyes and ran her hand over the bundled pieces she had inserted starting nearest the tube; wherever they passed, the yew and titanium lengths seemed to combine together and fuse to the tube as well, sort of like what she had seen the Ranger that had used his Natural elemental energy to combine her pieces of yew together to make her current bow.
* It’s a little bit of a cheat, because they normally use a flexible glue to combine the layers together, but this works too – and it’s much faster and easier. Now that these are together, I need to enchant this. *
Her double abruptly vanished, and the clothes seemed to fall to the floor, blocked by the work table; concerned, Echo rushed over to see what had happened, only to see a copy of Violet practically swimming in the previously right-sized clothes. That didn’t seem to faze the Shapeshifter Sandra was controlling, however, as a nearby wooden box was at hand to lift the Gnome Enchanter up to the table height. As the small figure managed to get her hands out of the now too-long sleeves, she grabbed the “bow” and started to do…something…to it.
Reaching into the folds of her clothes, the Gnome eventually fished out two pairs of fairly small Energy Orbs – one colored green and three colored grey. Then, in a small slot on the back top of the titanium tube that she hadn’t noticed before, the little person stuck two orbs inside it until they were hidden, followed up with two more on the back bottom. When they were inside, the metal seemed to flow over the slots, hiding them completely from view. Then, she continued her fancy hand-waving – which seemed unnecessary to Echo – for a couple of minutes. Fortunately for the Elf, who was looking at the whole process in confusion (she had tried enchanting something after looking at some examples in the Sandra’s Repository, but couldn’t manage more than a few lines and almost a complete rune – but not quite) it wasn’t completely silent as Sandra/Violet did her thing.
* So, what I’m doing here is putting two enchantments on this bow, with a simplified Activate rune compared to some of the ones Violet put on the War Machine and warhammers wielded by my Apes. Normally, you’d have to be able to see Spirit elemental energy to use one of them, but I have a feeling you’ll be fine even if it’s invisible to you; I’ll go over that once I’m done, because otherwise it probably won’t make sense.
* The Natural enchantment, however, should be easy to understand; it works in a similar way to the ones on the War Machine, allowing the wood and metal layers to bend much easier than they would normally, which should allow you to pull on the bow with minimal effort. It’s activated as soon as you nock an arrow to the string, and when you let go the enchantment deactivates, straightening the composite materials almost instantly – and I’m sure you can guess how quickly and powerfully that would send your arrows forward. *
“Uh…what string are you talking about? There isn’t a string on—”
* …and that should do it! Okay, this may seem a little strange, but I want you to nock one of your arrows like you normally would. *
Sandra was just talking nonsense now – there was no string to nock it to! The Gnome copy, sensing her confusion, picked up the bow and handed it to her; she held onto the tube – which she assumed was the grip (and it needs some sort of leather wrapped around it to stop it from slipping from my hands) – and felt silly standing there with it. Sandra/Violet indicated the quiver at her side and mimicked nocking an arrow with her hands, so as she rolled her eyes – feeling ridiculous – and did what was asked of her.
She noticed that there was a little lip on the tube that she assumed was the arrow rest, so she placed her arrow on it and pretended to “nock” it just to get the silliness over with. As she placed her hands where she would imagine a string was, however, she felt something…something invisible. Holding onto the arrow with the fingers wrapped around the grip, she used her free hand to feel the invisible whatever it was, running up and down it until she was pretty sure it was exactly what she thought it was – a string.
“What? How?”
* The string is made from a thin strand of Spirit elemental energy, so that’s why it’s invisible to you. You never have to worry about it breaking or getting wet, and it’ll be there as long as the enchantment lasts. When I learned about this bow and the enchantment associated with it, the enchantment would last for up to 1,000 pulls before having to be replaced. Holding the pull for longer uses a little more energy, so it could be less. With the Energy Orbs I placed in there, despite them being the Tiny variety, I estimate that it could be anywhere from 20 to 50 thousand pulls before they’ll need to be replaced, with the Natural one running out first. Not too bad, huh? *
Echo was barely listening, as she nocked the arrow to the invisible string, pulled it back and took aim at the side of a wooden table on the other side of the room. She released and immediately lost her grip on the bow; the recoil from the wood and metal snapping back straight was so intense that it shook out of her hand. As for the arrow, it hit nowhere she had aimed, hitting the far wall so hard that it shattered into a hundred pieces, leaving a small gouge in the stone.
* Sorry about that; I forgot to warn you that you don’t necessarily need to perform a full draw to get it to fly – and that the recoil when you do is quite heavy. With practice – and forewarning, of course – you’ll get used to it.
* You may also notice that it didn’t quite fly where you were likely aiming; that’s because the bow needs to be adjusted – and that’s where you come in. I have almost no skill in firing one of those things, but you do; you’ll need to pull on it and then use some of the tools in here to start shaving at the thicker outer layers— *
“I know exactly what you’re talking about; it’s how I created my own bow. It still seems a little odd, but I think I can do it,” Echo said, finally beginning to see how the strange new bow worked. It was exciting having something so powerful in her grip – it felt like something out of legend, in fact – except she was part of creating that legendary bow. “When I’m done, what else do you need help with.”
* That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. You know how my Shapeshifters are going to be involved in the assault on the other dungeon? Well, I’m not wholly sure that they can perform spells fast or accurate enough, because my connection to them will be limited while they are inside the Undead dungeon. Reaction times are much slower and the commands I give them cannot be too complicated, but if you’re there…well, I think I can have them copy what you do. *
That sounded…weird. “Copy? What do you mean by that?”
* Exactly what I said – copy. They will cast their spells wherever you cast…and shoot their bows wherever you shoot. *
“Shoot their bows—are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Sandra didn’t reply, but the start of a new pile of yew wood and titanium sheets, followed up by a familiar tube was answer enough.
I guess I’m a bowyer now…
Chapter 27
The next five days were a bit of a blur of activity in Sandra’s dungeon; Deep Delvers were constructed with the aid of Felbar and Gerold and then enchanted by Violet; Titanium warhammers were crafted and then enchanted; composite bows were crafted, enchanted, and then fine-tuned for firing by Echo; additional constructs, Rising Phoenixes, Celestial Authorities, and Radiant Pegasi were created; and a very small section of Wheat, Barley, Hops, and even Potatoes were planted with the help of Gerold (who knew a little about it at least, having lived in the village for more than a month).
New Origination Materials found!
Wheat Seed
Barley Seed
; Hops Rhizome
Potato Cutting
These materials cannot be directly used as a Monster Seed, nor can they be used in specific applications to create whole new Monster Seeds.
It didn’t seem as though she would eventually be able to just create grown Wheat, Barley, Hops, or Potatoes, but she could at least create as many seeds, rhizomes, and cuttings as she needed to make more. She didn’t spend a lot of time on them, however, because she had neither the time nor the Mana to devote to something like that at the moment; what she had done with them was more of a proof of concept than anything else.
She didn’t have much time to look at the new food she could grow for a couple of reasons; namely, she was directing her ever-growing force of Dungeon Monsters and, of course, she was crafting. Starting on the second day, she had 5 Steelclad Ape Warriors armed with the new enchanted Titanium warhammers as well as 2 Radiant Pegasi and 6 Celestial Authorities with which to start destroying the larger, more powerful Undead roaming around the forest. With a trio of Phoenixes roaming the sky looking for Specters, she was finally gaining some ground with what was already outside the other dungeon.
Her Apes, with their new more-powerful weapons, performed better than expected; half of them had the Fireburst enchantment on their warhammers, while the others had Holy Light – and both worked just as well as she had hoped. The first Undead her small force of Monsters tackled was another Ogre Skeleton; the Apes with the Fireburst enchantment managed to get in close and smash their weapons into its leg, blowing out chunks of bone from both the impact and small explosion of flames. Not only that, but the bones around the impact site – maybe because they were dry or for some other reason – caught fire, burning through the surrounding skeletal figure at a fairly rapid pace.
The Crafter's Dilemma: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 3) Page 31