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

staccato rhythm.  The suit was amazing, if she did say so herself, with the same blue-black coloring it had when she first started; long arms and delicately shaped fingers, sturdy legs and wide feet for stability, and a strategically carved faceplate for Gerold finished off the creation.

Now came time for the enchantments.  She had her new Shapeshifters gain access to all of her forms from the original Shifter a few rooms over, and when they came back she got to work.  The enchantments that allowed the Deep Diver to move were placed all over the body of the suit, and Large Spirit and Natural Energy Cubes were installed to power them; Sandra wished she could use the new Generators, but without the enchantments being in an “always-on” position, they wouldn’t really work.

She also added the same enchantments as Gerold’s previous Deep Diver suit had, with the ability to create an ice-formed battleaxe in its right hand.  For its left hand, she had originally created a full-body Nether-based cloud of darkness that acted as a shield – which hadn’t worked overly well because it blinded Gerold at the same time.  Instead of a full-body shield, she focused the enchantment so that it was similar to the battleaxe. Rather than a weapon, however, it would create a large, flat shield made from darkness, which he could wield like a regular tower shield.  Without more time to experiment, she felt this was the best alternative.

And with that, the suit was complete.  Amazingly, when she looked in on Jespin, he was finishing up his own project, having finished the armor, shield, and now the battleaxe that came with the set.  It was all a white-yellow-red color, which made it almost appear as if the King would be on fire with intensely powerful flames surrounding his body.  And opposed to her efforts to make the Deep Diver suit as pristine as she could, Sandra couldn’t help but compare it unfavorably to the perfection that showed in every piece in the Master Blacksmith’s armor; not only was it formed with more skill than she currently possessed, but he had actually taken the time to inscribe decorations around the edges – simply by using pressure and a steady hand.

It was truly a set made for a King.

That is the most gorgeous set of equipment I think I’ve ever seen, Master Blacksmith.  I see that I still have a lot to learn.

He smiled slightly, the exhaustion finally settling into his frame as he sagged in place.  “You’re never too old, never too experienced, and never too practiced at what you do to learn.  Even though I’ve been doing this for centuries, I’ve discovered that there is always something more to learn – you just need to know where to look.  So, keep learning, and someday you might be as good or better than I am.”

Sandra thought there weren’t any truer words ever spoken.  The Dungeon Core instructed Jespin where he could lie down to get some sleep, and he staggered to the bed and collapsed, the expenditure of his energy (over and over due to his regeneration) had obviously drained him greatly.

Now she was alone in the dungeon with not a soul awake other than Winxa—

Soul?  Hmm, that gives me an idea….

Chapter 40

The last 24 hours had been a bewildering ride of ups and downs emotionally for Sandra, and she was still trying to process some of it.  From experiments and discoveries, to realizations and the acquisition of knowledge – it was a lot to take in.  Now that she had some time to devote to analyzing it all, given that most of her automatic processes (creating additional constructs for the aboveground defenses, improving her jewelry crafting skills via her Goblin Crafters, making additional leather armor for Orc mercenaries, and enchanting additional energy Orbs) were operating smoothly, she decided to see what she could do about the passenger in her mind.

The Core shard was currently whining pathetically in the back of her mind, and despite all that it had done to try to control her and change her fundamentally, she couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit sorry for it.  Not sorry enough that she wouldn’t eliminate it from her mind if she had a choice, but since it seemed like that wasn’t going to happen any time soon, she had to deal with it another way.

Sandra deliberately let thoughts of connections, souls, Mithril alloys, and multi-element Elemental Orbs flow through her consciousness, all mixing together until it was hard to differentiate them all.  She felt that there was some sort of reason she was contemplating them all, some higher purpose to them invading her thoughts lately.  As she let them swirl around, something started to gradually solidify. It was a vague idea at first, but the more she let it stew around in the hidden vestiges of her mind, the more firm it became.  She wasn’t aware of how long it took, just thinking without doing much of anything; but eventually, a theory, an experiment, and some questions all solidified enough to act on them.

Winxa?  I have what is probably an odd question for you.

“Uh, sure.  Go ahead.”

How exactly do the souls of those who are implanted into Dungeon Cores get there?

There was silence in her Home room as the Dungeon Fairy stared at her Core in confusion.  “Wow, you like to ask the easy questions, don’t you?”

Haha, I guess I do.

Winxa was quiet for a few moments as she physically appeared to be searching for an answer.  “Well, I don’t know the exact process – no one but the Creator knows – but I can tell you that it’s all done at the same time.  Here in the mortal realm, the soul cannot exist without the Dungeon Core, and the Dungeon Core cannot exist without the soul.  They are intrinsically connected, which is probably why you ended