The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1) Jonathan Brooks (the dot read aloud TXT) 📖

be taken away if you were to be stripped of your position as an Assistant,” Lily said calmly, before shuffling a few papers on her desk.  “Now, let’s talk about your next assignment…”

*          *          *

Unlike Jeremy, her “new” Dungeon Core wasn’t brand-new or even relatively new.  Instead, it was an older Core that was having some…issues; Lily couldn’t or wouldn’t expound on what those issues entailed, however.  The Lead Placement Council Member instead told her that it was better if she didn’t go into it with any expectations – whatever that was supposed to mean.

Despite having “Hibernated” for over three months, it still felt like that morning that she had lost her first Core and had her Bond forcibly (and painfully) broken; Tacca wasn’t quite sure if she was ready to Bond with another so quickly, but Lily impressed upon her the need for speed, since she had been delayed in returning after Jeremy had been destroyed.  Nevertheless, she took some time after she left the DPRC headquarters – without seeing any other Fairies on her way out – to fly around aimlessly throughout the nearby countryside.  She was trying to forget everything that had happened – which hadn’t been my fault – and to center her thoughts and stressed mind before she found out what the issue with the next Core was.

Because she was quite confident that it was going to be something difficult, and, of course, perfect for her.

After just under half a day of wandering around, enjoying the sun shining down on her wings and watching the relatively peaceful landscape passing by far beneath her, Tacca was starting to feel a little better.  Amazingly, her Mood Dress was also reflective of her state of mind; instead of the deep black it had been earlier, it was a light grey bordering on the calm blue of serenity.  She didn’t know if she’d ever get to the point where it would be fully serene blue, but this was probably the best it was going to get.

Obviously, her modicum of serenity wasn’t going to last.  As soon as she Translocated to the dungeon where she was assigned, she quickly saw what the problem was as she arrived at the edge of her new Dungeon Core’s “Core Room”.  While she wasn’t experienced with actually seeing more than basic representations of Core Rooms in her schooling, she was taught about the vast variety of different methods used in their construction; there were supposed to be places where deadly traps could be set, where powerful creatures could be stationed for defense, and also have it relatively hard to get to – obviously.

One thing that was heavily discouraged, however – if a Dungeon Core wanted to survive for any length of time – was having any type of rewards inside the Core Room.  The entire dungeon was supposed to have rewards sprinkled throughout and also assigned to creatures upon their deaths, with a larger amount at the end of the official “dungeon” where Raiders would have to overcome some sort of obstacle – dangerous traps, difficult creatures, or a combination of both.  The Core Room was supposed to be the most protected of all, again with the most powerful traps and creatures, but there was supposed to be no rewards; if someone persisted in coming into where the Dungeon Core was located, they would face overwhelming odds for no reason or reward.

Tacca’s new Core, though, apparently either hadn’t been informed of that, or was completely ignoring the advice the previous Fairy had most likely given.  The room was full of what Raiders would consider valuable treasure: gold coins, precious gems, weapons of various types, metal armor pieces, and – scattered around the room and placed rather haphazardly – enchanting scrolls.

Enchanting scrolls were one of the most prized rewards from dungeons – or so she was taught – because Raiders couldn’t reproduce them on their own. They ran the gamut between the very common Illumination enchantments that were key parts of Amulets of Illumination – or, really, anything (but amulets were the most common) – to Firestrike enchantments that could give weapons the ability to burn anything they came into contact with, to rarer Invisibility enchantments very similar to her own Invisibility that would allow someone to bypass most traps, and even the ultra-rare attribute-increasing enchantments that could boost someone’s strength or speed or any other number of physical and magical attributes.

In short, this Dungeon Core really did have a treasure trove of “riches”…sitting right below its Core.  If any Raiders learned of its existence there, the Core could be in massive danger; not only would they take all of the rewards, but they would likely destroy the one that made the treasure as well.  Her schooling had taught her that Raiders tended to be greedy and wanted to prevent others from acquiring the same amount of “wealth” as they did; once they took the massive amount of rewards inside the room, they would probably destroy the Core to prevent anyone else from repeating what they just did.  There were multiple examples from history detailing exactly that happening, so it wasn’t just conjecture – though it wasn’t necessarily a sure thing.

The Dungeon Core couldn’t communicate with her until they bonded, of course, but she detected a strong sense of…suspicion, she thought.  It was better than the overwhelming fear and panic from Jeremy, at least, but it was still uncomfortable.  As soon as her Fairy Mana regenerated enough – which didn’t take long, since she had deactivated her Invisibility and Repellant Shield as soon as she saw that it was obviously safe – she flew over to the Core.  The “suspicious” feeling never really went away and only increased the closer she came, spiking to insane heights as she placed her hand on the warm crystalline form.

“What are you doing here?  Are you here to steal my stuff?  I told the last one