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

that as confirmation, and figured that it certainly made sense why these two people were King and Queen, especially with that kind of power.

Are you sure you don’t have at least a hint at what elements they use?  There must be dozens of different combinations of elements, especially if there are 6 elements for each of them.  Sandra did some quick mental calculations and realized that there weren’t as many as she feared: 28, in fact.  Still, it would take a bit of experimentation to get the combinations correct on both of them.

“Again, I’m not sure.  I’m pretty sure it was implied that, combined, they had access to all of the elements, but beyond that – nothing.”  Echo was wringing her hands in worry, as she looked over her people’s most powerful figures, unconscious and helpless at the moment.  Sandra wanted to ask about what exactly was wrong with them, but she deduced that the worried Elf would let her know when she was ready.  In the meantime, she had her Ape bring the entire box of Energy Orbs over so that she could start experimenting.

The problem with so many Energy Orbs being used for something like this, however, was that the spherical objects had trouble staying inside of the Elves’ delicate hands.  Even if they managed to hold onto them, Sandra wasn’t sure how much they would impede the use of those hands; while 2 Orbs had been embedded in Elder Herrlot’s palms without too much difficulty, it had been already pushing the bounds of what the body could handle in such a small space.

Using Elemental Orbs was an option, giving them the “brand” anywhere on their body, but Sandra thought someone who could use so many types of elemental energy would prefer to have the Energy Orbs for regenerative purposes.  When Echo was asked, she received an affirmative.

“I agree; I just wish that I had gotten the choice when I first bonded, because I can see the benefit of having the Orbs always touching my skin and not shrinking down when used.”

That was certainly a thought that Sandra had considered before, but hadn’t really had a chance to see if it worked before now.  Well, why don’t you try it while I’m trying to figure this out?

“What?  You can do that?”

I’m not sure, but we can try.  If it doesn’t work, then even that will be good to know.

“Is there any danger?”

Sandra hesitated.  I…don’t think so?  There shouldn’t be, but as I haven’t done it before, I don’t know for sure.

Now it was Echo’s turn to hesitate as she looked at the box of Energy Orbs.  Coming to a decision, she reached down and pulled out a white and a yellow Large Energy Orb, holding the Holy one in her right hand, with the Air in her left.  She stared at them for a moment, before she nodded.  “Do it.”

Just a reminder, this will hurt.  Another nod.  Okay, Bonding in 3, 2—

She didn’t wait for 1, as she didn’t want Echo to brace for it; whether or not that would make a difference in the pain she experienced was unknown, but Sandra always felt it was better to just get it over with.  The Elf cried out in a primal scream of unimaginable pain as she collapsed to her knees – and Sandra smiled internally.  The incongruence of pain being heaped upon her friend and her reaction to it wasn’t lost on the Dungeon Core, but she knew she wasn’t happy about the pain; she was happy because the pain meant that the process was working.

Though, Sandra had to admit that it was taking a bit longer than usual.  Normally, the whole process only took a few seconds, but Echo screamed for nearly 10 before she collapsed on the floor.  When she finally recovered and got to her knees again, Sandra could see the 2 Orbs stuck in her palms, appearing “normal” – as normal as having Energy Orbs embedded in the skin was, of course.

That wasn’t the only change, however; the gear-like brands on her cheeks, where Sandra had been forced to place the Elemental Orbs originally when Echo was spasming from the snake venom, were now gone, having been moved down to her palms around the Orbs.  I wonder if that was why it took so long?

“That…was…the worst thing…I’ve ever felt in my life.  Is it that bad for everyone?” Echo panted out as she got to her feet, her eyes appearing a little haunted as she stared at her palms.

Sandra explained what she thought had happened, and how it took longer than usual, which only got a few nods in response.  Echo closed her eyes and shuddered a few times, before she shook her whole body as if to get rid of any lingering pain.  “I can’t say it isn’t worth it, but I never want to have to go through something like that ever again.”

At least this means that I can use Elemental Orbs to start the Bonding process, and hopefully I can figure out how to get the Energy Orbs into them at a later date.  That made things much easier, in fact, because it was easy enough to arrange Elemental Orbs on their bare stomachs, as opposed to trying to get their hands to hold them.  An experiment with some of her Orc mercenaries a few days prior showed that trying to embed the Energy Orbs anywhere else on their body didn’t work, so palms were the only alternative for some reason.

It took about 10 minutes of attempting to Bond the two Elves with different combinations of Elemental Orbs before there was success; it would’ve been longer, but knowing that the Queen likely had access to what the King did not sped up the process.  The King ended up having all the elements but Natural and Holy, whereas the Queen didn’t have access