Winxa, is there an average amount that a Core’s Area of Influence will increase after every Core Size upgrade? I know that I was a bit unique with my rapid expansion from the beginning, but my recent increase is nothing short of shocking.
“I’ve definitely noticed that, and I had mentioned it before,” the Dungeon Fairy responded, her head tilted to the side in contemplation. “If I remember correctly, after Core Size 20, the typical Core increases by about 20% of their current AOI, though that isn’t a fixed number. A variety of variables can affect that either way—”
Her voice was abruptly cut off and her eyes grew wide as she started to breathe heavily. It was almost a minute before she was able to say, “And that’s all I can say about that. Why don’t you tell me what changed for you.” Luckily, Winxa hadn’t said anything she shouldn’t have – at least Sandra didn’t think so – but it was also disappointing to see that the restrictions put on her by the Creator were still there. Still, it gave her an idea that what she was experiencing wasn’t normal.
Well, when I reached Core Size 21, I believe I increased my AOI by nearly 30% as it expanded by 3 miles. Keeping on that trend – and beyond – I think I can reach nearly 7 miles more, which is approximately a 50% increase since last time.
“That is…unheard of, which is something I say a lot around you. In fact, I’ve seen so many things I didn’t think was possible from you in just the last few months that I haven’t wanted to leave.”
Now that Sandra thought about it, she realized what Winxa said was true. There were only a few times over the last few weeks that the Dungeon Fairy had gone back to her own realm using the portals she could create; the rest of the time, she had been inside her Home room or nosing around Sandra’s dungeon if she were bored. She had also taken a liking to watching the Dwarves go about their lives underground, and it provided her with hours of entertainment.
Well, before I check it out fully, I need to see how everything else is doing.
The answer to that was…remarkably well. Dusk was falling and both the Dwarven Shieldmen and Elven Rangers were wrapping it up for the day. Sandra immediately told Delarthe and the others that she was back and that they could run back to the dungeon where they could spend the night in comfort, instead of out where it wasn’t safe anymore. They had previously camped out in their former village, now that the Golem and Goblin Cores’ AOIs could reach it now, it wasn’t safe anymore.
The Orc village looked normal – as in they didn’t have any visitors yet – and the Dwarven villagers inside her dungeon were doing what they normally did that time of night: getting ready for the night. Granted, there were quite a few that were still up and enjoying the new baths she had created for them. There were also a few couples, including – unsurprisingly – Glencha and Teving, that were doing…other things. She diverted her attention away before she saw too much, and if her Core could blush she would be bright red around that time. So, yes, basically normal-ish there, too.
It appeared as though the Elves and the Dwarves, with the added help of extra constructs or Wyvines, were finally able to get ahead of the Monsters coming out of their nearby dungeons. Sandra was worried that the lower number she was seeing as she zipped through the forests with a flying armada of Shears meant that the Cores were upgrading their Sizes as well, but a quick check on each dungeon entrance showed at least one more Monster emerging while she watched.
Finally, the new Cores had expanded their AOIs again at least once, though their dungeon construction progress was still ongoing. It appeared as though Winxa had been right about them and it was going to be at least another week or two before they became a threat.
Therefore, she decided to finally concentrate on looking at her new AOI range – and she was again shocked by what she found. Not only did she now reach out nearly 21 miles in every direction, but she finally expanded far enough through each forest to find large swathes of them that were most likely untouched by the influence of dungeons for many, many years. Possibly even since Winxa’s former Core, Wester, had been around.
She took a small squadron of 100 Reinforced Animated Shears each and sent them out to the southeast first, where the Gnomes called home. The land undulated gently with rolling hills and what appeared to be vast plains once you got through the area nearest the wastelands, though there were stands of trees throughout that were blocking her from seeing much further. There was a well-traveled road – that she had seen before but never followed, which led through some trees unconnected to the forests that boxed in their lands and though she couldn’t reach it quite yet, she was sure that one of the Gnomes she had met had mentioned that there was a village or town located there. Other than the road being there, no other sign of the Gnomes could be seen from her vantage point.
The two forests that led off directly to the south and east were a different situation entirely. She looked at the forest to the east that divided the Gnome and the Dwarven lands and found that, once she really got past where the Dungeon Cores nearest her could reach, there were thriving communities of beasts, strange creatures, and natural monsters. True, there were beasts and other animals roaming around the closest forests that the different races hunted for their meat, but they were the barest shadow compared to what she was seeing now.
At the deepest part of the forest that she could reach – which was many miles wide at that point, which just went to show that the forests nearest the wastelands were quite narrow in comparison – there were fantastic beasts that she’d never heard of before. Some had extra heads, some were so large and heavy that they could knock over a tree accidentally if they weren’t careful, some had six or eight or ten or even twenty legs, and still others were so difficult to see because they blended into the forest so well. There were giant insects, flying creatures of many varieties, and other monsters out of legend that she didn’t even want to think about trying to contend with. Frankly, it was amazing to see so many different creatures all living in the forest – and were potentially even deadlier than almost any dungeon she’d seen before, including the Undead dungeon.
About 30 minutes later and after three more squadrons of Shears quickly checking out the other three forest borders she could reach, she was shocked at what she saw. All of them had extremely similar creature concentrations. There weren’t necessarily the same beasts, animals, and monsters – but each of them had a lot of them and all of them appeared very deadly.
Winxa…I have a question for you.
“Um…sure, I’ll try to answer,” the Dungeon Fairy said, obviously still wary after her close call earlier.
Why are all of these deadly-looking beasts and monsters filling up the forests where the dungeons aren’t nearby?
“Hmm…well, the easiest explanation is that dungeons aren’t the only thing preventing the different races from interacting.”
But I don’t remember hearing stories of these kinds of monsters filling the forests near Muriel.
“That’s because the Humans, no offense meant, are stupid enough to explore the unknown and mysterious forests looking for loot or a challenge – more so than any other race. If I remember correctly, there used to be these kinds of bands around the forests where there weren’t any Dungeon Cores, but they ended up wiping them all out; after that, more Cores were added to surround the Human lands, keeping them ‘busy’.”
Sandra could definitely understand what she was talking about; she remembered many a Hero talking about their prowess and how they had killed this monster or that monster or found some special dungeon loot somewhere. It wouldn’t surprise her to learn that, getting bored of the routine culling of local dungeons, groups of Heroes would go into the deep forests and just start slaughtering everything they could find.
The people in her current corner of the world obviously didn’t want to invite trouble when there was no need. The beasts and fantastical creatures inside the forests seemed to leave the open areas alone, so they wouldn’t bother anyone unless someone tried to pass through
to get to another race’s lands. She also had a feeling that if a nearby Core were to expand their AOI far enough into these densely populated areas, the natural monsters within would act as another source of culling that would prevent more expansion.
Of course, Sandra wasn’t like all of the other Cores and her curiosity was piqued. While she hadn’t yet figured out how to use the various components of the natural creatures she had killed – such as the Crag Hound Stone Carapace from the Crag Hounds inside of the wastelands – the prospect of collecting more of those components was intriguing. Not only that, but there were a few creatures that she thought might be beneficial in other ways…as in beneficial for crafting.
It was something she was hoping to explore soon, however, because there were some other things that she needed to take care of. Since it was now night, Sandra started to create some more constructs to help with the culling in the Elven forests when the Rangers were asleep; she was still going to have the Wyvines out in force, but had them stick to the easier Dungeon Monsters they came up against. She didn’t want to have to replace them if it wasn’t necessary.
For the Slimes, she created 2 Titanium Anacondas with a small force of Hyper Automatons that would follow after them, collecting Monster Seeds that were left behind after the Monsters were killed. The Slimes were probably the easiest of the two types of Dungeon Monsters for Sandra’s constructs to kill, because their normally highly acidic gelatinous bodies did truly little to the Titanium forms of the Anacondas; other metals, like Iron or even Steel, were eaten away by the Slime at differing speeds. The metal snakes, on the other hand, were—nearly—immune to the slimy bodies and immediately dived in, snatching up and crushing the Slime’s nucleus in seconds.
That wasn’t to say that they didn’t have any difficulty. After a few smaller Slimes were killed, Sandra began to see obvious damage done to the Anacondas as the Titanium on their heads was pitted and scarred – but not enough to hamper them. It was when they started to tackle some of the larger Slimes, which were at least 5 feet tall and just as wide, that the potency of the acidic bodies started to really affect them. After one Anaconda had its entire head almost eaten away, Sandra was forced to create a Repair Drone that she had camped in a central location that could heal them up after such a fight. It wasn’t ideal, but after thinking about what she had available to combat the Slimes, it was the best choice.
The Beasts in the other forest were a different matter. Because they varied somewhat in size, shape, and type – because they could range between boars, bears, wolves, large cats, and even strange hybrids like those Crocatiles – she decided to go with something a little different. She briefly thought about the Steel-plated Behemoths because they were strong enough to withstand a lot of damage while dishing it out with equal fervor, but they were extremely slow.
She had created one the day before to replace one of the Iron-plated Behemoths in her final room of her dungeon, and while they were at least 4 feet taller and wider than their predecessors and with thicker Steel plates, they moved rather slowly. The Dungeon Monsters roaming the forests were still doing their best to avoid conflict and would escape from the Behemoths without much trouble. Plus, Sandra only had a total of 12 (11 now) Monster Seeds that were capable of even holding the Behemoth that she had plundered from the collapsed dungeons in the form of Average and Large Faceted Onyx and Sapphire Spheres. To make them herself, she would need to invest in another two advancements to reduce the cost of Raw Materials per Seed by 30% – which she wasn’t quite prepared to do quite yet.
Therefore, she would need something that could catch them while still doing enormous damage. The one thing that all of the Beasts had in common was that they were flesh and blood, unlike the Slimes or the Golems on the Dwarven side. The Mechanical Dire Wolves and Jaguar Queens immediately came to mind, because they were effective against the Goblins, but the difference here was that the beasts they were going to be facing were, in general, powerful. As in, they could swipe or charge at one of the Mechanical constructs and smash it apart, if not cut it into pieces with their deadly claws. Granted, they would probably still be effective, but there might be more than a few losses that would make it hard to countenance such an expenditure.
Her Steel-clad Ape Warriors were great at blunt-force attacks, which would undoubtedly be effective but not ideal. With enough of them gathered together, they could certainly be deadly to the Beasts, but it was also an investment that might not pay off if one or two were destroyed – because they were expensive to produce. The same went for her Martial Totems; they were great at pummeling their foes to death, but they weren’t great at maneuvering around quickly and could probably be smacked around by a large bear or Crocatile with ease.
Out of all her options, she decided on something that was quite the opposite of what the Elves would normally use, and because of that she made sure to warn the Rangers before they all fell asleep for the night. The sound of 15 Roaring Blademasters chasing down and shredding beasts in the normally quiet woods would probably be disturbing, otherwise. The noise was blocked out for the most part by the density of the trees, but Sandra was sure that at least a little bit of the sound carried to the village.
It was pure carnage, to tell the truth. Her spinning, bladed, and floating constructs were as deadly as they were loud when they attacked. When chasing down their prey, they were able to fly along without having to spin, which also helped to speed them up; when they caught up, however, they turned on their speed and practically chopped up the Beasts they managed to corner and tore them apart. A few got knocked out of the air by swipes of massive paws or were pounced on by large cats, but very few were damaged enough from that single hit to be destroyed completely. A second Repair Drone was on standby to help any that were damaged and in need of help, but they were remarkably effective, nonetheless.
Still, there were casualties. Every other fight resulted in a destroyed Blademaster or two, which was an acceptable attrition. The Monster Seeds from them and the killed Beasts were brought back and used to create more, until there were three groups of Blademasters running around and massacring the Dungeon Monsters fleeing for their lives. If it weren’t necessary, Sandra would’ve felt sorry for them; as it was, she was walking a fine line between just enough and complete domination – the latter of which could inspire a different strategy on the part of the Cores, which may or may not be a good thing.
Sandra followed along with her constructs all night, tweaking how they initiated their attacks to minimize their own casualties while inflicting maximum damage. As a result of that concentration, the only other thing she did was manage her incoming Mana to start finishing off stage after stage towards the next Core Size upgrade. After the initial investment in the Elven constructs, anything new to replace those that were destroyed – which included one of her Titanium Anacondas at one point – was paid for by the Monster Seeds dropped by those she culled. Therefore, by the time dawn broke across the wastelands, she was halfway done with her next upgrade and had done a fairly good job of reducing the number of Dungeon Monsters in all of the forests.
The Elves and Dwarves would easily be able to catch up with their work and finally get ahead. Which was a good thing because it seemed as though the four Cores decided to all upgrade as well.
Chapter 26
By noon, every Beast, Slime, Goblin, and Golem that could be found outside of the dungeons had been eliminated, which gave the Dwarves and Elves a much-needed break. They were worried what the upgrade would bring, and getting prepared for when they finished was imperative – especially since the Cores nearest the Elves were almost guaranteed to be able to reach the Elven village of Avensglen. Right now, they had enough protection to keep themselves safe for a little while if the Cores decided to attack, but it would only last so long under a protracted siege.
* Chryla; do you think you and the others would want to base out of my dungeon? I can guarantee it will be safer than staying in your village. *
It
would take a little bit of work over the next day to make something to accommodate the entire village of Elves, but Sandra was confident she could figure it out and complete it. She had even mapped out where it would likely go: a branch off of her Roc Tunnel would probably work well enough and would keep them separate from the Dwarves. Eventually she wanted all of the races to work together in harmony, but she was realistic enough to know that kind of thing took time.
The young Ranger thought about her proposal for all of two seconds before she responded. “I can guarantee that the answer would be a firm no. I’m sure it might be safer, and we would appreciate the offer, but even the thought of spending more than a couple of hours underground gives me extreme anxiety. I don’t know how Echo managed it for as long as she did, but she was always an…odd one, for sure.”
* I can fill some rooms full of trees and make it bright for you – would that help? *
“Yes, that would help. I still wouldn’t want to spend more time there than necessary; I can just imagine the feeling of the walls closing in on me when I’m thinking about it,” she said, shivering in the noonday sun. “Now, if there is no choice and we have to decide on either staying here and dying, or moving to your dungeon…well, I can’t even guarantee that everyone would choose to live. I certainly would choose to keep living, but there are others that – as grateful as they are for your help – would rather live out the rest of their time in this world free of the confines of the underground.”
* That’s perfectly reasonable, I suppose. Just know that the offer stands for any that want to move or need to flee. In the meantime, we need to figure out how to protect your village, because it is likely to become a prime target of attack fairly soon. Even forewarned and forearmed, you’ll be facing two dungeons at the same time, which is a difficult proposition for anyone. *
The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) Page 28