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

to learn when…” Violet trailed off as she remembered the devastation she had come back to after the complete destruction of the ELA.  So much tragedy has happened to me over the last few years that I’m not sure if I can handle any more.

* That would help immensely; all I would need is some idea of what it needs to look like, and I can help with that part.  Which brings up another question – how many different enchanted machines do your people use? *

“Oh, we use quite a few, though only a few of them are big enough to transport people/goods or to fight for us against the monster scourge.  The War Machines you saw before are used primarily for culling and harvesting materials outside of a dungeon; they aren’t the largest, either – but they are…were…suitable for what we needed near here.  We also use a much smaller version called a Deep Delver for…uh…destroying dungeons, as the larger War Machines wouldn’t be able to fit inside the rooms and tunnels.  We have very few of them left, unfortunately, as many of them were destroyed unpiloted at the ELA when it fell, as they were undergoing routine maintenance at the time.  There are a few others, but along with the Haulers, that is the majority of the ones we use,” Lankas spoke up for the first time.

Violet looked at him in thanks, as she didn’t want to mention the destruction of the ELA again.  Each of the others that had survived the fall of Glimmerton had a little something to do with the normal maintenance of the War Machines and had to deal with Haulers frequently as they helped to receive supplies and ship out the village’s harvested materials.  While they didn’t necessarily build the machines, they knew their forms fairly well; their enchantments, however, fell under Violet’s purview.

* One last question before you arrive at the Enchantment Repository: Violet, do you know how to create a Preservation Barrier? *

“A Preservation Barrier?  Is that like a Stasis Field?  As in, a field that will keep most objects inside it from experiencing the passage of time?” Violet asked, confused by the terminology.  The Stasis Field was a common enchantment, used commonly even in transporting foodstuffs, as it prevented the food from rotting and was kept as fresh as it was when it was put inside the Field.  It only worked on non-living objects, though, so plants, animals, and Gnomes wouldn’t be affected by the Field.

After Sandra confirmed that they were one and the same, Violet said, “Well, yes – I can make one of them.  But what do you want to use it on?  Based on what I saw yesterday, I doubt you want to preserve food for any length of time, as you can just make more of it with…whatever you’re using to do that.”

Following the metal monkey, they passed into another room that had racks and piles of weapons of every discernable shape and size, collections of full-metal armor pieces, and other things she didn’t even recognize.  There was enough weaponry there to practically outfit an armory, and most of it looked to be extremely well-made – if not masterwork quality.

* This is my display and storage room – I think I told you that I like to craft, and this is a result of a couple of weeks of crafting.  Anyway, we’re almost to our destination; you’ll see what the…Stasis Field…will be used for in just a moment. *

She could barely tear her eyes away from the insane number of weapons in the dungeon’s armory, but when she did, they were already walking through another tunnel.  When they finally emerged into another, larger room, she looked at the multi-armed cylinders made from different materials scattered around the space.

* Alright, here we are.  Let me explain how this is going to work… *

Chapter 28

Sandra was relieved that Violet was able to create the Protection Barrier – or Stasis Field – enchantment, otherwise none of what she had planned in the Enchantment Repository would work.  Yet, at least; Sandra still planned on eventually acquiring a monster from another Classification that would allow her to craft enchantments herself.  Still, the fact that Violet could do it would make the whole process much easier.

She explained what the purpose of the room was, how it was to work, and how she desired for it to be a sort of “library” of enchantment knowledge that could be used to teach others.  While the Gnomes were able to create enchantments as easy as breathing, they didn’t always have the learning and experience needed to make everything; from what was explained to her through a combination of speaking to Winxa and conversing with Violet, most Gnomes knew maybe five to ten enchantments using their specific elemental energy, with half of those being only temporary.  The rest that they knew were permanent utility enchantments ranging from a simple rune that would repel dust off of a surface to a slightly more complex rune that would keep pests away from a building.

“That’s…quite genius, actually.  I can see how that would work to preserve even the temporary enchantments, while also not letting them activate in the first place because of the Stasis Field.  However, I’m worried that a Field the size you need will consume quite a bit of energy; I can set four or five up quite easily, but I don’t have enough Spirit energy to finish the rest.  That, and the Stasis enchantments will only last I’d say…hmm…about a week, give or take a day.”

That was going to be a problem, especially since she wanted to keep the RRPs around for a long time to preserve that knowledge.  The only Preservation Barriers she had personal experience with were much smaller, though, which was probably why she had thought they would last for years or decades; apparently, the bigger