The Crafter's Defense: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 2) Jonathan Brooks (large ebook reader TXT) 📖

in fact want to help – but I’ll have to explain it a little later.  Right now, I need to get you all somewhere safe where you can rest and even get a little something to eat if you want.  You do eat meat, don’t you?”

“Well, yes – though it isn’t often that we have access to it—” Violet started, before Sandra cut her off.

* Then let’s get you below and settled in and I’ll keep you all apprised of what’s going on with the reptile army heading here. *

“But what about those massive lizards?  Do you have something that can kill them too?” The Gnome woman pushed her questions out and practically forced Sandra to respond.  The problem was, Sandra had no idea what she was going to do about them, but she still had at least a day before they arrived.

* Honestly…I have no idea what to do against them.  Let me worry about this initial wave first, and if we all survive, we’ll see what we can do. *

“What do you mean, ‘if we all survive’?” Violet asked.

Wow…I wonder if I was this annoying when I was pestering the crafters to teach me what they knew back when I was Human?  I bet that’s why they taught me in the end, just so that I would stop asking questions.  Sandra tried to answer the rest of her questions as best she could, all the while itching to get back to preparation; she had trouble carrying on a conversation that required she listen and respond while doing something else at the same time.  When she would recite what she was seeing and what was happening to Winxa back near her Core, it was usually just a one-way conversation – this was much more complicated.

Fortunately, as soon as Sandra showed the Gnomes her VATS, they turned their attention to that instead.  Freed up from having to answer difficult questions and only needing to lead them to where they needed to go, she could finally concentrate on more important matters.

At least, she thought survival was pretty important.

Chapter 20

First, Sandra checked her Non-threat Visitors List to make sure that everyone was on there from the Bonding process, though she was sure it worked because she could feel her ability to manipulate things inside her dungeon as soon as it had completed.

Non-threat Visitors List (Currently Present)

Name

Race

Elemental Access

Winxa Flamerider

Dungeon Fairy

Spirit

Felbar Warmaster

Gnome

Fire, Spirit

Violet Apprentice

Gnome

Natural, Spirit

Jortor

Gnome

Nether

Saryn

Gnome

Earth

Lankas

Gnome

Air

Kasdon

Gnome

Water

Wilser

Gnome

Air

Pomend

Gnome

Fire

Junipar

Gnome

Holy

Just as she thought, an additional nine names had been added to the list, though it was interesting to note that no one other than Felbar and Violet had surnames.  Warmaster and Apprentice didn’t seem like the typical surnames passed on to other generations; instead, they almost sounded like earned titles instead of ones just given to them at birth.  It was also fascinating to see that their elemental access ran the entire spectrum – only Fire and Air were repeated.  She wasn’t sure if that meant something, but she was hopeful for potential applications in the future – if the Gnomes were willing to help her with her crafting, that was.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have time right now to continue those crafting pursuits; with another Dungeon Core’s army of reptiles on the way, she had to concentrate on defense instead. To that end, she also checked on her current resources to see what she was working with; if she was guessing accurately, the reptiles still had another 45 minutes before they would arrive, which would give her another 13,000 or so Mana, minus what she was going to spend on the Gnomes to feed them – which fortunately wasn’t much.

Core Selection Menu

Dungeon Classification:

Constructs

Core Size:

19

Available Mana:

8215/15646

Ambient Mana Absorption:

10/hour

Available Raw Material (RM):

26250/41608

Convert Raw Material to Mana?

26250 RM -- > 1050 Mana

Current Dungeon Monsters:

14121

Constructs Creation Options:

17

Monster Seed Schematics:

133 (3)

Current Traps:

31

Trap Construction Options:

All

Core-specific Skills:

5

Current Visitors:

10

Looking at the list, she realized that she had neglected to check out a few things with everything that had been going on with the preparations she was making in her dungeon right after her Core Size Upgrade, the attack on the Gnome village, and then bonding the survivors so that she could operate her dungeon properly.  Speaking of them, they were all sitting down on the kitchen floor after enjoying their trip down the VATS – completely the opposite of a certain half-Dwarf/half-Orc – and eating some Bearling steaks her Golem had cooked for them.  Felbar joined them, still unconscious, when her Ape brought him down and deposited him there, and the others kept him as comfortable as possible; remembering what had happened with Kelerim, she made sure a Repair Drone was nearby to help sustain him through his unconscious period.

Sandra had told them that they could visit the forge in the next room (Kelerim’s old one), but to avoid going anywhere else for the moment.  There weren’t too many dangerous spots in her workshops, but she didn’t want them accidentally trying to walk into her Home room while she was distracted; being burnt to a crisp from her Fire trap she had set up after just being saved didn’t sound like a good ending for one or more of them.

Therefore, unless they started making trouble – she thought Violet was level-headed enough to keep them all in line – she ignored them for the most part.  Sending her attention skyward, she instructed a thousand of her AMANS to spread out in the direction the reptiles were coming, just for extra coverage in case some of them split up and went somewhere else – or even to try to sneak in