The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) Jonathan Brooks (books that read to you txt) 📖

find a Repair Drone; she didn’t see one, even though she suspected it was there, but she did see an Ape construct just standing around.  Up here; help me, she instructed mentally, and the construct immediately leapt up to the edge of the open ceiling, caught the edge and pulled itself up.  It immediately got to work unstrapping Princess Celeste at her further direction and gently cradled her in one arm and Violet in the other.  Then she had the Ape jump into the workshop, landing with a small crunch of the stone underneath.

Immediately, she spotted one of the white cylindrical constructs that indicated that it was a Repair Drone, just out of sight of the hole in the ceiling and across the room.  I made it!  As she started to instruct the Repair Drone to come over and start healing the Princess, her mind was overwhelmed with a mental shout.

* How dare you enter my dungeon!  You will die like the rest! *

She held her hands up to her head as it rang with the painful reverberations of the voice.  It was a voice that sounded like Sandra, but was just subtly different from what she remembered; she wasn’t sure what the difference was, but she was sure that she didn’t like it.

As the import of the words finally penetrated past the pain in her head, she felt herself being dropped to the floor.  In shock, she looked up to see the Ape with the arm that just dropped her raised, and it was seriously appearing as if the construct was about to smash the Princess to a pulp.

* NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! *

Another mental shout ripped into her mind and she blacked out. The next thing she knew, she was waking up to a Repair Drone backing away from her side, its long stick-like arms and pads disappearing within its blemish-free white shell.  She shook her head back and forth and noticed that it didn’t hurt anymore, nor were there any more stings from the scrapes she had recently acquired on her hands.

The Princess!

She sat up, looking around, only to see the Princess lying nearby…whole and undamaged.  Not only that, she was alive by the looks of it, though she was obviously still unconscious or sleeping at the moment.

* I healed your friend, Violet, but it’s not safe for her near here unless she’s Bonded to my Core.  Quick, what elements does she have access to? *

Violet jumped at the voice in her head, the recent shouts making her a little skittish.  A hundred questions passed through her mind in less than a second, but the tone in Sandra’s voice – which sounded “normal” again – made her answer the Dungeon Core’s question before she answered her own.  “I think she has three: Fire, Water, and Nether.”  It was a highly unusual combination, but that made sense for the unusual nature of the Princess.

* Unusual combination of elements.  Hold on; I know you probably have a lot of questions, and I have a lot for you, but this needs to come first. *

It was good to hear Sandra’s voice again, even if it had been under some strange circumstances.  Violet held her tongue as she watched the Ape that had helped her earlier go toward a wooden box in the corner, coming back with what she immediately recognized as Energy Orbs.  “Wait, are you going to—?”

* Yes; she probably won’t feel it, and I have a hope that it will shorten the time she’s in a healing coma.  She was barely holding on by the time my Repair Drone got to her, and this is the only way I can see to speed up the process. *

Violet just nodded as she watched the Fire and Water Energy Orbs being placed in her right palm, and the Nether Energy Orb placed in her left.  The next moment, there were some twitches from that caused the Princess to spasm a couple of times; Violet rushed to her side, but the spasming stopped before the Enchanter could even get close.

* Done.  She should be safe now.  Who is she? *

“Princess Celeste,” Violet absently responded as she looked over the Princess’s face, relaxing when she saw that the Royal Gnome appeared none the worse for the Bonding process.  She was aware of how painful it had been with those that Bonded with Energy Orbs in their palms, and she was glad that it didn’t appear to have done any serious, lasting damage to the Princess.  In fact, it looked as if she was just resting peacefully – just like Felbar had rested peacefully when he had been healed from Sandra’s Repair Drone construct.

* A Princess?  Wow, I’ve never had one of them in my dungeon before; I’ve had a Warlord, but never a Princess. *

Sandra’s voice grew hard at the mention of a Warlord, and Violet wondered exactly what she meant by that.

* Look, I don’t have a lot of time; I just felt another Dungeon Core finish its upgrade and I’m losing control again.  Talk to Delarthe if you can find him, and he’ll fill you in with what’s going on.  Or better yet, Owchet – if you see him. *

“Wait—what?” Violet asked, entirely confused by nearly everything Sandra had just said.  There was no answer, however, and it felt like there wouldn’t be one from the craft-loving dungeon.

As she sat there by the Princess’s side, looking around at what to do, she couldn’t help but wonder what had gone on while she had been away.  And who is Owchet?

Chapter 33

Retaking control of her actions required a monumental effort from Sandra’s conscience, but she managed to do it just in time.  The return and sight of Violet, her Journeyman Enchanter friend, was enough of a crack in the wall holding her back that she was able to break through