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

that I was done with all of this and just want to be left alone with all my precious treasure.  You can’t have it!” the female voice of the Core violently shouted at her as soon as the Bond was established.

“Whoa, I’m not here to take any of your rewards—”

“Then you can leave, I don’t want you here.”  As quickly as she had formed the Bond just a few seconds ago, it was broken by the Dungeon Core.  Tacca reeled back in temporary pain and surprise, as it felt like a taut cord connecting both of them together was cut and rebounded back onto her.  Fortunately, it was just a quick sharp stab to her chest which rapidly faded, but she was just barely feeling…whole again…with the Bond she had established with the new Core; the hole in her self now felt doubly empty as the comfort the connection provided was given and taken away so suddenly.

 Ok, this isn’t going well.  The suspicion from the Core had dampened down quite a bit since she arrived, but it was still there.  I’m going to try again to see if I can get through to her.  She didn’t move from where she was using her wings to hover nearby the Core while she waited for her Fairy Mana to regenerate, because she didn’t want anything she did to create any cause for concern.  When she finally had enough, she reached out and reestablished the Bond, speaking as she did so to hopefully prevent the Core from breaking it immediately.  “Look, I’m here to help you…acquire a larger hoard of treasure,” Tacca started, thinking that would get her attention.  “I just need to talk to you for a little bit to see what we can do to make that happen.”

If the Dungeon Assistant could have the ideal outcome in the situation, it would be to have all of the rewards dispersed throughout the whole dungeon; as it was, she was prepared to work with the Core to perhaps create a separate room to store it all – a room where the Core wasn’t present.  Tacca just had to ascertain what exactly was going on and create a workaround, though it would probably require extra defenses to protect the treasure room as well as the Core Room, but it would eventually be doable.

“…A larger hoard?  I’m no hoarder, believe me, I’ve seen the shows and that certainly isn’t me.  I’m just poor, that’s all—or, at least, I was poor; now I have all the money in the world!  I’m quite content to keep it all safe right here and live in luxury for the rest of my days.  I don’t need any more than this, and I’ll just expand this room if I need more room when I make more.”

Now that Tacca was looking, the Dungeon Core looked dimmer than what she remembered from her brief look at her Mentor’s; it wasn’t nearly as bad as Jeremy’s had been when he practically wiped his Core out of Dungeon Force, but it was dim enough.  While the Core was talking, she also saw a slight dip in the glow, and she heard and saw a handful of gold coins appear near her and roll down an already overloaded hill of rewards nearby.  This has got to stop; it looks like she’s using everything she’s regenerating over time to create more and more rewards – and probably on nothing else.

“Ok…I can barely understand that reasoning, but what you’re doing isn’t safe.  If some Raiders get wind of what you’re doing here, then they won’t stop until they take all of this and destroy you in the process.”

The Dungeon Core laughed at her.  “Oh, sweetie, you don’t have to worry about that!  Old Darlene is smarter than your average cookie; I removed all of my traps and Panthers months ago from my dungeon and then reduced the ambient lighting so that it looks vacant.  You know, so it looks like the lights are out and nobody’s home?  I haven’t had more than some quick glances from a few Elves – did you know they have real, actual Elves here?  Anyway, other than a few that looked inside a few rooms and then exited, I’ve been left completely alone.  It’s like window shopping, dearie; if there’s nothing pretty up front, then there’s no reason to shop in the store.”

You can’t be serious…

This was going from bad to worse…

Chapter 6

Tacca’s head was reeling.  “Wait a minute, are you saying you took out all your defenses?  No traps or…Panthers, did you say?”

“Absolutely!  I used the Force from reabsorbing them to create more treasure in here, because otherwise it was going to waste.  It’s all really pretty, don’t you think?”

Darlene – if that was indeed the Core’s name, which she had stated in third person – had to be one of the stupidest, ignorant…whoa there, Tacca – slow down.  You can fix this, you can fix this; it’ll take a little time and a lot of persuasion, but it’s not over yet.  “Uh…yes, it’s pretty.  But what I’m more concerned about is the fact that there is nothing standing in the way from a Thief-type Raider sniffing out the treasure you have inside your dungeon and walking right into your Core Room.”

There was silence and a bit of shock coming from Darlene, before she asked in a much less confident voice than before, “They...can do that?”

“Yes, it’s called Valuation Sense and it’s something that most Thief or Brigand-type Raiders can choose to acquire after they’ve been Raiding a while.  I’ve been told that it’s not the most accurate of abilities they possess, but I’m sure it would be more than enough to at least give them a general idea of what’s here.”

“That’s…not good.  How come the other Assistant didn’t tell me that?”

“Well, I made it my goal to learn everything about Raiders