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

After that proclamation, Winxa was silent again, though this time it was for much longer.  Sandra didn’t have that great of an ability to judge the passage of time when all she had to go on was a few faint sounds coming from the edge of her awareness, but she estimated that it was nearly an hour before the Dungeon Fairy spoke again.

“I know you can’t speak to me during your Core Size upgrade, but I can almost hear you screaming out questions in my direction.  The most obvious one is probably, ‘If The Creator made all the dungeons, why can’t they be uncreated?’  That’s an easy one, at least – they can’t.  The Creator only does one thing: create.  Taking away the dungeons already here is akin to destruction, and that is something that completely impossible for The Creator to accomplish.

“An adjacent question to that one that you probably have is, ‘Then why can’t The Creator just create a new set of rules for the dungeons to follow?  Maybe one that makes them not kill all the sentient races?’  A very good question, though it is one that is a little harder for you to understand since you aren’t constrained by a contract.

“When the contract is agreed upon with the soul to inhabit the Dungeon Core and The Creator, there is a distinct hands-off clause in there that prevents The Creator from altering or inhibiting the Cores in any way once they are ‘born’.  It also prevents any type of interfering directly with the operation of the dungeons, like creating something nearby that would directly oppose a particular Core or Cores.  So, in short, The Creator’s hands are tied when it comes to saving the seven sentient races.”

Sandra couldn’t help but think that answered some of her questions, but the most important one still—

“That brings us to you, and what is likely your most pressing question, ‘What am I doing here?’  I think I have an answer, but not in an official…proclamation, so to say.  In fact, I’m not even sure if I can tell you this much without violating my own contract with The Creator, but I might as well try.  I think you’re here to—” Winxa abruptly cut off, her voice sounding like she was choking on something for a moment.  When she stopped coughing from whatever was in her throat, she tried again.  “You’re here to—” she started, only to once again choke on something and start coughing.

“I guess I can’t tell you.  Hmm…well, I assume what you choose to do is your own choice and telling you what to do or what I think you should do would be akin to advice, which is a no-no in my profession.  Oh well, not much I can do to get around that, but I will at least stick around for any other questions about your dungeon that you might have.  It’s a bit above and beyond what I’m usually asked to do, but there’s nothing in my contract stating I can’t do it.  Besides, I’m eager to see what you eventually choose to do.

“There is some more information I can give you that might interest you, and it is completely for informational purposes only and I am not suggesting a lick of advice with it.  Just so you are aware, there are four nearby villages, one in each of the races’ lands; they each have different needs that—” Winxa started choking again, though this time it was so violent that she actually fell off the top of Sandra’s Core when she couldn’t breathe.  Fortunately, the Dungeon Fairy was able to catch herself in the air before she hit the ground; a few seconds later, Winxa settled back down on the top of the Dungeon Core and held her hands up in defeat.

“Ok, ok – I get it, I get it.  Sorry, Sandra, but I have a feeling if I try to skirt the rules again it could kill me.  You’re on your own as far as that goes, but I will still be here as long as you need me to answer…dungeon construction and operation questions.”

Sandra couldn’t see the Dungeon Fairy’s face well from where she sat on top of her Core, but her voice sounded strained and defeated.  It was another chunk of time before Winxa spoke again – sounding a little better in the process – as she described how the fight against the Territory Ants was going.  Over the course of – Winxa later informed her it was 16 hours – her upgrade, Sandra had lost two-thirds of her construct force, but since she had increased it beforehand, she was still doing okay.  Another few hours, however, would’ve seen more and more Ants coming through to threaten her Core.

Your Core has grown!

Current Size: 5

Mana Capacity increased!

Ambient Mana Absorption increased!

Raw Material Capacity increased!

New Constructs option!

New Monster Seed Schematic available!

Trap Construction Options unlocked!

Through your use of the intuitive Dungeon Core interface, you have also learned the Mundane Object Creation skill!

Through your use of the intuitive Dungeon Core interface, you have also learned the Monster Seed Origination Adaptability skill!

Core Selection Menu

Dungeon Classification:

Constructs

Core Size:

5

Available Mana:

3/160

Ambient Mana Absorption:

.16/hour

Available Raw Material (RM):

125/800

Convert Raw Material to Mana?

125 RM -- > 5 Mana

Current Dungeon Monsters:

31

Constructs Creation Options:

4 (2)

Monster Seed Schematics:

2 (2)

Current Traps:

0

Trap Construction Options:

All

Core-specific Skills:

2

Mundane Object Creation?  Monster Seed Origination Adaptability?  None of that made any sense to her, but that wasn’t important right now.  She would look into everything she just received in a moment – including her new expanded awareness of her surroundings – but she wanted to make sure she was fully protected first.

Sandra’s Available Mana started to fill again from the