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

what Sandra had said.  “Help how?  Keep in mind that I don’t entirely trust you, or forgive you for what you did, and this better not be some sort of trick.”

* It’s perfectly understandable for you to feel that way, and I assure you that this is no trick.  I’m not like all of the other dungeons in the world; I already told you that I’m not looking to attack or harm anyone.  Honestly, I just wanted to be left alone.

 

* You see, crafting is my passion and is really all I wanted to do.  Of course, that was before I learned about the nearby races here: Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, and then you Gnomes.  All of you are facing a crisis, even if you can only see a glimmer of it right now.  Eventually, given enough time, the dungeons around your lands will become too powerful for you to fight back against and you’ll be wiped off the face of the world.  If you don’t believe me, just look at what happened to your Enchanter’s Academy or even your village once a dungeon started killing innocent people.

 

* If that scares you, it should.  You need to fight back now before it’s too late, and I think I was brought here to help you do that. *

How does she know about the ELA?  Did she have something to do with that, too?  She desperately hoped not, because then that meant that the dungeon was even more powerful than she previously thought.  After a moment’s reflection, though, she realized that it was highly unlikely that Sandra had anything to do with that attack given that it was almost a month’s travel away from her dungeon.

And, as much as she wanted to deny it, what the dungeon had said about their eventual fate might be true.  Recovering from the destruction of the ELA was nearly impossible, and try as they might, Violet didn’t think that they’d ever be at the same point they were just a few years ago.  From the information she had been able to gather, the expansion of the dungeons had been held in check for centuries through the use of their Master Enchanters and Warmasters, but given the recent reduction in culling, it wasn’t likely they’d be able to keep that same equilibrium they had enjoyed before.

“Okay…say I believe you.  What can you do to help?” Violet finally asked as the others all seemed lost in their own depressed thoughts while thinking about their homes and families.

* Well, for starters, I can supply as much—where did that come from? *

Violet looked around to see what had made the dungeon pause in its explanation.  The only thing she saw was Jortor eating an orange; the others also looked at him in confusion and not a little bit of consternation.  When they were all eating meat earlier – which wasn’t her favorite, but she could eat it – none of the other Gnomes had spoken up about having any other food on them.

“What?  Why are you all looking at me like that?  You know that I always eat when I’m depressed…or nervous…or happy.  So, I like to eat – is that a problem?” Jortor answered defensively, attempting to hide the orange in his hands.

* That’s not a problem, but if you don’t mind, can you drop one of the orange seeds on the floor?”

Without responding except with a shrug, Jortor plucked out a seed from his orange and dropped it on the stone floor.  It disappeared so fast it barely had a chance to bounce.

* This should work for a demonstration, actually.  If you would follow my construct here, I’ll show you what I can do to help. *

The large metal monkey moved off towards a tunnel leading slightly downwards and Violet and the others hesitated.  She looked over to Felbar in worry, as she didn’t want to leave him there alone.

* Don’t worry about him, he’ll be fine.  My Repair Drone is right there in case he needs any healing. *

 With an expression that mirrored Jortor’s from earlier, she shrugged and followed the dungeon’s “construct” through the tunnel, leading to some unknown destination.

Chapter 24

Sandra watched the faces of the Gnomes as they followed her Ape through various workshops in between the kitchen and her growing room.  They passed her Gem-cutting station in one room, her Gold/Silversmithing/Jewelry worktable in another, her Leatherworking Workshop next, and then at her room with the boiling vats before they arrived at the Textile shop, which was where her growing room was located, just off of it.  It took longer than she was expecting for them to arrive, mainly because the Gnomes couldn’t help but ask questions about everything they saw.  She answered them as well as she could while trying to usher them through, until finally they arrived where she was planning on showing them something interesting.

There was a lot inside her dungeon that she could show them about her crafting initially – which, if they agreed to stay for a little bit, she was still planning on showing them – but she wanted to show them that she wasn’t all about war and fighting.  Kelerim had been suitably impressed by the weapons and armor she could craft using her forge because he came from a society that prized warriors and fighting prowess – or at least half of him did.  The Gnomes, on the other hand, knew how to create great and interesting machines through the use of their Enchanting; they would be less impressed by a longsword she could masterfully craft in her forge.  Even the Steel knives at their sides were actually quite well made – not mastercraft quality, certainly, but they were worlds better than anything she had seen come from the Orcs.

Nor could she craft something as impressive as their War Machines, though she had thoughts about