The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1)

by Jonathan Brooks

Available Core Improvement Points (CIP)

  500

  0 in 30 days

  Improvement Name

  Value

  Cost (CIP)

  Maximum Dungeon Force Increase

  +500 DF

  200

  Dungeon Force Regeneration Increase

  +5 DF per minute

  200

  Control Limit Increase

  +50

  100

  Select Additional Creature

  1

  250

  Select Additional Creature Variant

  1

  25

  Select Additional Trap Specialization

  1

  300

  Select Additional Environment Access

  1

  400

  Reward Tier Increase

  1

  100

  Convert CIPs to SCPs

  1 SCP

  4

  Again, as she expected, the cost in CIPs to increase her maximum Dungeon Force and regeneration was more; whereas they were each 50 before, now they were 200. It was the way the system worked, unfortunately – each time you purchased an Improvement, the more expensive the next purchase would be. The only thing on the list that didn’t change no matter how much you did it was the conversion of Core Improvement Points to Special Characteristic Points – that stayed exactly the same with a 4-to-1 ratio.

  There were benefits to doing that conversion, of course, and Tacca was pretty sure that she’d have to do it at some point in order to get rid of her negative Special Characteristics; she only received 25 SCPs every time she raised her Core Improvement Level, so unless she wanted to wait until she was Level 23 (which was a long way away), she’d have to sacrifice some of her precious CIPs. Right now, though, the conversion wouldn’t do much good – she’d much rather use her Points on something that could help immediately.

  Increasing her potential options with more Dungeon Force was imperative, so she spent 400 of her 500 Points on raising it to a maximum of 1,500 and an additional 5 per minute regeneration. When those were purchased, she saw that the next cost for each was 500 – so that wasn’t going to happen for a little while. With her remaining 100 CIPs, Tacca spent them on increasing her Control Limit by 50 – which would greatly help to populate her dungeon when she was ready.

  Tacca then turned to her Assistant side of her new form, though she paused after a moment to realize something: she hadn’t blacked out due to her Core Improvement Level increasing. I guess that was only temporary. Looking at her Core from the outside, she noticed that all but one tiny crack had been repaired; she figured that the initial damage just after she was sucked into the Dungeon Core had been far greater than she knew, and that was the reason for the period of unconsciousness. Now that she was basically repaired, there was no need for knocking her out, apparently.

  Dungeon Assistant Information

  Assistant Name:

  Tacca GloomLily

  Assistant Rank:

  Novice

  Assistant Stage:

  4/5

  Experience:

  12/400

  Experience Pending/Countdown:

  0 in 1 Month

  Fairy Mana (FM):

  200/200

  Fairy Mana Regeneration:

  9 per minute

  Abilities:

  Bond

  Instant – Multiple

  50+ FM

  Translocation

  Instant

  1000 FM

  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

  Tacca’s increase in her Novice Rank Stage provided her with a brand-new Ability: Healing Aura. She had been worried that her changed circumstances would prevent her Assistant system from automatically teaching her how to use it, but fortunately she was wrong; as soon as she thought about it, she knew how to activate it as well as information on what it could do.

  The Healing Aura was for healing herself – at least it would if she were still a Fairy, though she wasn’t sure how it would work with her Core – and anything around her for 10 feet in every direction. It required 20 Fairy Mana every minute to sustain, which was quite a lot; however, it would rapidly heal the injuries from minor cuts and scratches within a minute, as well as more serious ones like broken bones within 10 minutes. It was a good way for an Assistant to contribute to a dungeon, because she could be used to heal the creatures inside that may be wounded from a Raider invasion; even though the creatures that a Core used were created by Dungeon Force, they didn’t heal automatically – they were like real beasts in that respect.

  Thinking about her creatures made her anxious to finish her dungeon; she wasn’t planning on staying hidden forever, and now with her improved Dungeon Force capabilities, her nearly repaired Core, and her construction progress, Tacca knew she was better prepared than when she was first turned into her new form. She needed to get moving, get Raiders to come invade her dungeon, and build from there.

  Inevitably, there was a hitch in her plan…Shale came back.

  Through her Bond with him, Tacca felt a strange change in its strength – as if it faded for a moment – which fortunately alerted her to his arrival. She didn’t like being surprised, and it was good knowing that she had at least a moment’s advance warning before he popped into her Core Room using his Translocation Ability.

  “Hello again, Tamara. It looks like you’re stuck with me for a while, if that’s alright with you,” he said as soon as he arrived with a sad look on his face and black streaks running through his Mood Clothes; within seconds of arrival, Shale activated his Invisibility and Repellant Shield – which was promising, as he had learned from his mistakes from before. As for what he said, Tacca had expected as much when she offered him the chance to leave; it wasn’t necessarily up to either of them whether or not he could leave – because it was ultimately the Council’s decision.

  “What happened?”

  She couldn’t see his facial expressions anymore from where he was in his Invisible state, though she found that she could more easily pinpoint his whereabouts; she wasn’t sure if it was because she had increased her Assistant Rank Stages or because of their Bond, but she was thankful for the easy way she could keep tabs on him. “Well, I spent about a day going over what you told me with a few other Council Members, before getting some sleep. Another day was spent looking over Tacca’s…body…for any signs of injury that might’ve been missed; just as you said, though, everything indicates that something happened to her that wasn’t controlled by anything you might’ve had. It’s still a mystery, though, so Lily wants me to stay here and see if I can find any other evidence of what happened. Well, that, and they wanted to see what kind of effect Tacca’s death may have had towards your development.”

  She’d talked to Lily enough to have a good idea of what that really meant. Great…he’s essentially a spy for the Council. There was no getting out of it now; she was going to have to learn how to navigate her way through the next year or so with Shale Bonded to her – and hope that she didn’t let anything slip as to her origins.

  “Fair enough…well, I’m glad you’re here, even if it doesn’t seem like you want to be Bonded to me.”

  Shale’s tone of voice was tinged with something that sounded like embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean for it to seem like that. I just never expected…this whole thing…as my first assignment. I apologize if I seem hesitant and a little stand-offish, and I know that this whole situation with Tacca dying unexpectedly is probably just as hard on you as it is on me.”

  You got that right.

  Of course, she didn’t tell Shale that being Bonded to him was hard because she didn’t want to revea
l anything that could get her in trouble. Instead, she commiserated with him about the death of her “previous Assistant”, until he started to warm up a little bit towards her. She didn’t particularly care if he liked her or not, but she knew it would make everything a bit easier to deal with if he wasn’t against her from the beginning.

  “So, Tamara, tell me about what’s going on and then I can see if I can do anything to Assist with it; that is my job, after all. According to my Experience Countdown, it appears as if you’ve been busy.”

  Tacca already planned on telling him at least some of what her plans were and what her initial selections were – because it would be hard to hide it for long – but she paused when Shale mentioned his Experience Countdown. She had been so focused on her own development that she forgot for a moment what the Bond meant for the actual Dungeon Assistant.

  “What do you mean? Have you…gained any Experience yet?” She was actually curious if anything had changed in his countdown because of her unique nature.

  Shale laughed, as if her question was an ignorant one – but it didn’t sound particularly mean, at least. “No, no – I’ve got a long way to go until that happens. Just like you, it takes a year for my Experience to be officially registered…though I doubt I’ll be here long enough for that to take effect if the Council pulls me out.”

  He sounded disappointed, which Tacca could fully understand; all of those she had been Bonded to before had been destroyed way before a year was up, so that was the reason she had never received any Experience. If Shale were to stay near her for close to a year, but then have his Bond broken before that year was up, all of that accumulated Experience would essentially be lost.

  “Actually, what I was referring to was the 497 Experience I see in my Countdown already. I’d love to see what you have going on that got you so many…uh, Core Improvement Points, I believe. Not only that, but if you have the time I’d love to hear what your initial selections were; knowing how smart Tacca was, I’m sure you’re already taking advantage of her tutelage.”

  If she didn’t know better, Tacca would’ve thought he was trying to get on her good side by ignorantly praising her skills as an Assistant; as it was, since he didn’t know he was actually communicating with the former Fairy, his assertions of her “smarts” seemed genuine. She wasn’t sure how to take that, because no one had ever really been that nice when talking about her before; sure, some of her instructors commented on how well she did at DAPS, but it was usually accompanied by some sort of comment referring how all of that talent was wasted on such an unfortunate individual. To hear what sounded like sincere praise touched her crystallized Core heart so much that she inadvertently let some of that strong gratitude and appreciation leak out.

  Before he could question what that was all about, she tried to cover for it. “Absolutely, Tacca did a great job teaching me almost everything she knew – or at least as much as she could before she died. I will always appreciate how much she seemed to care that I succeeded, even if it was in a roundabout way.”

  “Roundabout way? What do you mean?”

  Here it was – the big reveal. Like she had thought before, there was no way she’d be able to hide it for long, especially when she started making multiple species and Variants. She explained what her initial selections were…and as she expected, he couldn’t understand the underlying objectives.

  “What? That’s crazy! Why would Tacca do that to you? She ruined your development for years, if not decades…possibly even centuries! You’re not going to be able to defend your dungeon very well if you can’t even create a Level 2 creature, let alone something even stronger; it doesn’t matter if you can create thousands of species, if you don’t have something that can kill Raiders, then they’re almost worthless. And…Enchantments? Really? Talk about specializing in the most non-lethal traps available…but at least you’ll still be able to make others, even if they are horrendously expensive at your Level. It’s almost as if she was setting you up to fail…I guess that ‘bad luck’ the Lead Placement Council Member was talking about that Tacca had was right.”

  Again, Tacca was expecting that response…all but that last bit. “What do you mean, ‘bad luck’?”

  She could vaguely see the Invisible figure of Shale turn his head to view the room, as if he was expecting someone to be nearby that could hear him. It was silly, because she would know if anyone was nearby, and also because he could’ve just communicated via his mind and no one would’ve heard anything. “Ok, so, I apologize for speaking ill of the dead, and I can see that she was your friend of sorts – or at least acted like one,” he started, his voice low and soft – and practically a whisper. “Tacca, however, had a horribly portentous birth, and everyone knew that something bad would happen wherever she went. It’s strange that they allowed her to live in the first place, and why they allowed her to become a Dungeon Assistant I’ll probably never know.

  “For all the time I knew her, nothing bad had happened, so I thought that maybe what was said about her birth was exaggerated. Then, when she graduated and went to the same Mentor training I had gone to – though with a different Assistant – the Mentor and his Dungeon Core were destroyed almost immediately after her arrival. From there, she was sent to dozens of different Cores to be an Assistant, and each and every one was destroyed shortly after she arrived. Amongst the Dungeon Assistant community, she quickly became known as ‘The Deliverer’.”

  She’d heard the name before of course, but she was curious about exactly what it meant; Lily had taken her away from the waiting room before she could get more information. “The Deliverer? What does that mean?”

  Shale’s voice grew even softer, as if he was afraid to talk about it. “Well, everyone said that she was called in to ‘deliver’ death and destruction to any Cores, bringing them immediately to their fate sooner than what would be natural. Based on a few comments dropped by Lily and some other Council Members, her portentous birth really did translate to ‘bad luck’, though only towards Dungeon Cores for some reason. Basically – and this I inferred from what I was directly told – she was called in specifically to destroy Dungeon Cores that were…problems. The Lead Placement Council Member said that Tacca was ‘unique’ and a ‘valuable asset to the organization’, so I guess that fits. I have no idea why Cores would need to be destroyed, however – and it’s not my place to ask.”

  Tacca was speechless. She’d had her suspicions about her purpose, but to have it confirmed – or as confirmed as she was probably going to get unless Lily came to her dungeon and backed it up – was something else. I was essentially used as…what? A Dungeon Core assassin? It was bad enough that so much torturous pain was heaped upon her from all of the involuntary Bond-breaking, but to have this knowledge added to it was almost too much.

  “And Tacca was sent here…to kill me?”

  There was more hesitation from Shale and Tacca wished that she could see his face. “I…don’t know for sure, but it’s quite possible. I was told that there was a ‘problem’ communicating with you before, so she could’ve been sent here to do that. When she actually got you to respond, it’s also possible that her ‘bad luck’ kicked in and ensured that you were destroyed as soon as you opened your dungeon to the outside world.” Another pause. “I heard Lily mumble that she thought Tacca’s ‘bad luck’ finally caught up with her and ended up killing her instead, though I don’t know how true that is. I’m not even sure if she believes that, which is probably why I’m here. Regardless, just know that you’re probably not at fault here – it was all because of Tacca.”

  That didn’t really help to make her feel better, mainly because she was beginning to worry that this “bad luck” she was stuck with had transferred to her new form. Will I end up killing myself inadvertently? Were my choices influenced by this bad luck, or did it go away when I became a Dungeon Core? She had no way of knowing, of course, but the theory behind her plan was sound…or at least she hoped so.

  “Despite what�
��Tacca’s…overall objective was, I still think my choices will work. She explained them thoroughly before I made the decision, and my belief in them is still there. We’ll just have to see if they pan out the way I hope they will.”

  She didn’t have to see his face to know Shale was skeptical. “I highly doubt that, but I’m interested to see what you can do. You sound very determined, so I hope for your sake that you can turn this disaster around.”

  So do I, so do I…

  Chapter 17

  Tacca spent the next few weeks creating more tunnels and rooms with Carve Earth, until she had three more spaces that she could utilize for her dungeon; one was 20ft X 30ft and 30ft tall, another looked like a long hallway 20ft wide (as well as tall) and 100ft long, and the last was a small 15ft cube that would be her initial room to her dungeon. When she got closer to the surface, she could detect with startling certainty how far away it really was; her last room – rather, it was the Raiders’ first – was only a dozen feet away from the outside, which was located a little above its position. For some reason it almost felt like she had perfectly placed her last room in the side of a hill, because she was able to get fairly close to the surface, which was both above and ahead at that point.

  Shale had been surprisingly supportive, even if he didn’t approve of her original choices; then again, there wasn’t much use in being negative because he was stuck with her, so that could’ve been the case too. Regardless of the reason, he approved of her room shapes and tunneling, as well as her caution about opening up too early.

  “Good, you don’t need to open it yet; from what I’ve learned, Raiders tend not to appreciate an empty dungeon that opens up. You need to put some creatures and traps in here beforehand; don’t forget to put some deadly ones, as well – if you can afford it, at least.”