The Crafter's Dilemma: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 3) Jonathan Brooks (me reader TXT) 📖

construct was ready to remove it in a hurry if something went wrong.  Fortunately for everyone, it worked exactly the way it was supposed to.

Success!

Now that she had a viable proof of concept in the setup around the RRPs, as soon as the Repository room was complete, it would be time to work on the War Machine sitting immobile and unenchanted up in the workshop above.  Afterwards, she could work on getting the Gnomes back to their homeland and start the process of—

As seemed usual, just as Sandra was thinking things were looking up, a new problem presented itself.

Chapter 11

“What did you think was going to happen if we weren’t there anymore?” Violet asked.  “You may have gotten rid of one of the dungeons, but I thought you were taking over for us,” she continued, after being told of the issue that had just come up.  Of course, the Gnome was still helping to enchant the Large Spirit Cubes that Sandra was providing, because that project had taken priority over almost anything else as far as the Dungeon Core was concerned – though this…development…was going to have to be addressed very soon.

Sandra couldn’t believe she had completely forgotten about the other dungeon that was near the Gnome village that had been destroyed.  While the Reptile-based Core had been destroyed in response to the attack on the Elven village, the Undead that were roaming the forest on the opposite side of the Gnome lands had been small and fairly non-threatening.  At least, they were non-threatening; at some point that Sandra must have missed, the Core – which was currently allowed to create more Dungeon Monsters without fear of them being culled by the Gnomes – had upgraded its Core Size and expanded its Area of Influence.  She suspected that it had happened during the whole invasion of the Reptile dungeon and subsequent attack on her own, so it had been easy to overlook.

But now the Core and its AOI had grown again, to the point where it could reach where the ruins of the Gnome village were; in fact, with its current territory, it could fill most of the open land around the area with its Dungeon Monsters without fear of them being destroyed, bringing in more and more ambient Mana for the Undead Dungeon Core.  This in turn would allow it to upgrade its Core again and again, eventually growing so large that it could start to attack the Dwarves to the north.

Granted, it wasn’t growing nearly as fast as the Reptile-based Core had; the dungeon that Sandra had destroyed had accumulated Mana quickly from the deaths of all of the Gnomes, as well as from absorbing all of the Monster Seeds looted from the destroyed village.  While it was growing slower, it would still be as much of a threat to the people near the wastelands if left unchecked – which was exactly what had happened.

* I didn’t even think about it, in all honesty.  I wasn’t made to thin out the nearby Dungeon Monsters, you know; nevertheless, I have to do what I can to stop it from expanding even farther than they already have. *

“Can’t you just go in and destroy them like you did with the other dungeon?” Felbar asked.  “With what I’ve seen you capable of, I’m sure it probably wouldn’t be that hard.”

The older Gnome had a point; compared to where she was when she attacked the Reptile-based Core, she both had more Constructs at her disposal and they were of a better quality – stronger, faster, and deadlier.  It was obvious from her eradication around the wasteland that they were more than capable of doing so – as long as she was cautious and didn’t lose them to traps inside the Undead dungeon.  Sandra knew from personal experience both in her own dungeon and the one she had invaded that those types of defenses were more likely to destroy her constructs than any Monsters they went up against.

However, she debated on whether or not that was the right move to make.  The dungeon was only following its instincts and wasn’t “technically” a danger to any of the other villages, though it was slowly expanding into the territory owned by the Golems near the Dwarven lands.  While it couldn’t pass through the Golems’ Area of Influence, if it expanded past them, then there wouldn’t be any stopping them from reaching the Elves.

The Reptiles had been “lucky” that the Beast Core near the Elves had been further south, so they were able to skirt around the edges to reach the village; the same was looking to be true with the Undead-Golem area, as the Undead dungeon was further east than the other.  It was so far east that Sandra saw that it was barely within her own Area of Influence, though it appeared that she would be able to have her constructs reach it and delve through its dungeon without any issues.

Did the Creator put me here to destroy all of these Dungeon Cores in the area?  If that’s true, where would it stop?  If I upgrade my Core Size and reach even more dungeons, do I destroy them too?

Sandra didn’t have an answer to that, though she could tell Winxa did – but couldn’t tell her.  The Dungeon Fairy’s face was flushed, and she held her mouth forcefully shut, for all intents and purposes looking like she was about to burst with the need to vocalize her opinion.  The Dungeon Core told her to calm down and breathe, all while reminding her not to say anything; Sandra was nearly positive that if Winxa tried to say something, it would probably be the end of her.  While she wasn’t sure she would actually die – because the Creator didn’t destroy things – the Fairy would undoubtedly be knocked out and somehow confined to her own realm in the future,