The Crafter's Dungeon: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 1) Jonathan Brooks (sites to read books for free .TXT) 📖

you should make; the sole purpose of a Dungeon Fairy is to teach and not necessarily to advise.  So, unfortunately, you’ll have to make the decision on your own,” Winxa said regretfully.  The Fairy hesitated a moment before adding, “But I can tell you this, at least: if you are serious about not wanting to hurt anything – which flies in opposition to some of the constraints a contract would impose – then think about what you want to do instead.”

What I want to do instead? I…have no idea.  All of Sandra’s previous life had been consumed with either traveling the land with her father, selling merchandise to everyone who had coin, or her own hobby of learning about crafting.  None of which seemed like something she could do now, though she was still so new at this Dungeon Core thing that she wasn’t so sure of that.

She looked over the list of available Classifications again and started crossing things off that didn’t interest her.  Beasts, Dragonlings, Reptiles, Giants, Golems, Leviathan, and even Avian monsters sounded like they were more suited for killing and destruction than she wanted.  And since she already knew she didn’t want anything to do with Nether and Holy elemental energy, there were only a few choices that she really considered.

In the Natural realm of choices, she liked the idea of slimes or some sort of fungal monsters, but in the end, they didn’t sound very exciting.  If the area she was in was indeed not overly populated, then she couldn’t imagine staring at a mushroom or a blob of slime for the next few years or centuries.  There was nothing wrong with them, but they just weren’t for her.

Bipedal and Goblinoids were another choice, as they were at least similar in shape to a human, but she wasn’t exactly sure how similar they were.  Fortunately, when Sandra concentrated on both options, she was able to get a better understanding of them.

Bipedal

(Fire/Natural)

The Bipedal Dungeon Classification includes access to monsters including, but not limited to: Gnolls, Kobolds, Ogres, and Trolls

Goblinoids

(Spirit/Fire)

The Goblinoid Dungeon Classification includes access to monsters including, but not limited to: Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears

As much as those seemed interesting, Sandra…didn’t like them.  In fact, even though they were humanoid in shape at least, their monstrous appearance led her to dismiss them as a possibility.  Which left the options that were most likely unique to her, since she had access to every element.

Constructs

(All)

The Constructs Dungeon Classification includes access to monsters including, but not limited to: Clockworks, Animated Objects, and Automatons

Primordial

(All)

The Primordial Dungeon Classification includes access to monsters including, but not limited to: Prismatic Beasts, Shifters

Now, these were much more interesting.  While she wasn’t sure she cared about the Beasts that the Prismatic Classification had available, the Shifter option was intriguing.  Sandra was tempted to choose that one just to try it out, but it didn’t quite call to her like the other one did.

The Construct Classification seemed much more suited to her personality.  While not “crafted” in the traditional sense, they seemed more like inventions and designs than actual “monsters” – which is exactly why it appealed to her.

With just the barest hesitation, Sandra selected Constructs for her Classification and felt a sort of wrenching inside her mind.  Fortunately, it wasn’t painful and didn’t last long, but as soon as whatever it was finished, she felt different than before.  Not bad, necessarily – just… “whole” would probably be the most accurate word.

“So, what did you choose?”

Sandra told Winxa what she had selected, and the Dungeon Fairy looked confused.  “Constructs?  I’ve never heard of them before – but I’m excited to see what you can do.”

Same here.

“Ok, now getting back to where we were before, try to bring your Core Selection Menu up and then we can get to work.”

Sandra did as she was told and attempted to bring it up again – and it wasn’t blocked by an angry red warning box this time.

Core Selection Menu

Dungeon Classification:

Constructs

Core Size:

1

Available Mana:

4/10

Ambient Mana Absorption:

.01/hour

Available Raw Material (RM):

75/100

Convert Raw Material to Mana?

75 RM -- > 3 Mana

Ok, I got it up.

“Now, you should be able to convert what you had absorbed from the wall to Mana; if you remember, I told you that your core automatically converted your previous ‘meal’ to Mana when you were completely full, so you should already have a little bit in reserve.  Go ahead and convert the rest of what you have and while it’s doing that, I’ll explain the next part.”

Sandra selected the option to convert her Raw Material into Mana – which didn’t seem like a great conversion rate when she was able to look at it closer – and she felt herself dim like she had before.  What the…?

“Don’t be alarmed – while your Core is converting what you ‘ate’, the process takes most of its attention and you’ll not be able to do anything else.  Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about being attacked right now – as you’re practically invisible to the outside world – but keep that information in mind later on when you’re more vulnerable.  There’s a reason why almost all dungeons rely on their monsters to accumulate Ambient Mana as opposed to ‘eating’ it from their nearby surroundings – the transfer of Mana from your creatures is nearly instantaneous and you can do other things while it’s happening.”

Sandra thought that made sense; if Cores were vulnerable every time that they tried to acquire more Mana, then they probably wouldn’t last that long.

“Like I said, we’ll use this time to teach you about your monsters, how they’re created, and about your monster seeds,” Winxa continued her lesson.

Monster “seeds”?  It sounds like I should know it, but I’ve never heard that term