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

inside the circles; one rune looked like a tight spiral, another looked like six horns stuck together at the same point, and a third looked like little lightning bolts.  They all had technical names, of course, but that was how she always thought of them.

The tight spiral – or “Rotational” – runes was fairly obvious in its purpose; it designated that a turning or rotation of the object being enchanted was a factor in its purpose.  The six-horned – or “Adherence” – runes told the enchantment that it was to stay attached only to what was designated by the concentric circles she created earlier.  Lastly, the little lightning bolt – or “Power” – runes were essential in the piloting process, as it designated how much power was needed to turn the steering wheels and have it mirrored by the gears below.  It didn’t make a whole lot of sense for it to be a one-to-one ratio; the Hauler pilot would quickly grow tired if they had to make a full rotation of the wheel to get the gear to rotate a single time.

Holding the rune sequence in place with her mind when it was finished, she jumped down and walked to the front left gear and started the process over again.  The gear itself was almost as tall as she was, so it took a little longer to complete than the steering wheel, but she got it done, matching it up perfectly – though larger – to the one she did before.  The strain of keeping both enchantment rune sequences was starting to make itself felt in her body, as her hands began to shake just a little.

Clamping down on the shakes with a firm resolve, Violet drew the simple linking runes – a series of “Transference” runes that looked like sideways ladders filled with various basic symbols – connecting the two rune sequences together, running it along the outside of the Pilot Carriage. Her hands were beginning to shake a little more by the time she was done, but she managed to complete the final rune without making any mistakes.  As soon as she finished, she allowed the entire enchantment to complete – and took a few steps back at the same time.  She had never attempted to create anything that complex before – small-scale models didn’t count – and she worried that she hadn’t done it correctly.

Incorrect runes could be harmless and just fade away if they weren’t complete; on the other hand, though, they could and did tend to explode with a release of elemental energy if something was set up wrong.  Normally, smaller-scale enchantments would just sting or make your hand or whatever was touching the failed enchantment numb for a few minutes.  Larger enchantments like what she just completed, however, could do significantly more damage to both herself and the Hauler if she had done it wrong.

Violet waited…and waited…and waited…  And nothing happened.

Violet breathed a sigh of relief as it appeared as though the enchantment had been completed correctly; when there was no explosion or any other indication that something had gone wrong, the fatigue of holding the rune sequences for so long faded, only to be replaced by elation.  I did it!  Mom would be so proud… She had always been the one to encourage Violet in her studies, though it wasn’t like her father didn’t care – he was just rarely there.  She couldn’t blame him, though, especially since he had been in charge of running the entire ELA.

Looking at the nearly invisible Spirit energy lines running between the two rune circles, it appeared as though her shakiness towards the end of its creation hadn’t ruined it one bit.  In short, it was perfect, and Violet was extraordinarily proud.  Jumping back up to the Pilot’s area along the back of the Carriage, she turned the steering wheel quickly forwards and had to catch her balance as the Hauler jerked initially.  She laughed to see how successful she had been and was eager to do the other side.

* Nice job, Violet!  That was work worthy of a master there!  Your control while holding all of those runes suspended was excell—uh, what is it doing? *

The Hauler had stopped when Violet stopped turning the steering wheel, but she could feel a tremendous build-up of energy for some reason.  She looked at the runes on the wheel near her but couldn’t see anything wrong; jumping off the back, she traced the linking runes and saw that they all appeared normal as well.  It was when she got to the gear hooked into the track that she saw the runes she had placed there glowing brighter and brighter, pulsing like some sort of heartbeat.  She was confused at first…before she saw the mistake.

“Oh, no – I forgot to reverse the Power rune—”

There was a brilliant flash of light and Violet felt herself being flung backwards at high speed…and then all was darkness.

Chapter 31

Sandra got the gist of what Violet was talking about before the entire rune sequence exploded with brilliant force, flinging her backwards until she hit the wall – hard.  The Gnome woman slid down the wall to collapse in a broken puddle of arms and legs; she feared the worst, but after a quick check she saw that her little form was somehow still breathing.  She acted quickly and brought three Repair Drones from across the hallway in the upper VATS chamber and immediately set them upon the Gnome for healing.  One of her Ironclad Apes had to untangle her semi-jellied limbs so that they could be healed, unfortunately; Sandra was just glad that she was unconscious, because she couldn’t imagine being awake feeling the pain that was likely infusing her entire body.

All in all, it took nearly 15 minutes of constant healing from three of her Repair Drones to repair all of the damage Violet had sustained –