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

so much material smashed together that it obviously made it really heavy, as I can see by the hole it made,” she further explained.

Logically, what Winxa said made a lot of sense; in reality, Sandra had a hard time picturing how such a thing was possible.  Nevertheless, it would definitely explain how just a little sliver of it could give her approximately 50,000 Raw Material, as well as being the reason why it hadn’t been a “new” material.  If she was right, then the strange sphere was made from dirt, stone, desiccated branches, a whole assortment of metal-based Monster Seeds, and some Sapphire and Onyx gemstones.  There was always a possibility that there was something different in there, but it would require eating away at the multi-colored ball for a while to discover it.

Thanks, Winxa, she told her, before said Fairy opened another portal and disappeared back down near Sandra’s Core.

“You’re welcome,” she said when she appeared.  “Whew, that’s the last time I go near the surface – it’s way too dangerous.  You should warn a girl,” she muttered, smiling at Sandra’s Core.

Rather than wasting her time arguing with Winxa and telling her that she had nothing to do with the Fairy going up there in the first place, Sandra used her time more wisely and started to make enough Monster Seeds with the new source of Raw Materials to last a while.  With her Rolling Forces adding to the amount of ambient Mana she was receiving from her AMANS already (which was also growing slowly back up to the level it was before) she was flush with that particular resource – so she spent it on building up another force that she hoped would eventually be sent to start destroying the Undead outside of the other dungeon.  From there, with some additional reinforcements, it would be on to the dungeon and Dungeon Core itself – to end the threat once and for all.

There was still going to be a bit of time before that happened, of course, and some other preparations that had to be made – which would hopefully start the next day.  Now that the War Machine was finished and working excellently – I still have to fix the mostly cosmetic damage tonight, though – Violet was going to be free to help with designing some more enchantments that were sure to be useful.

For the moment, though, she was still resting and Felbar had joined her and Echo down in the dining area for a late lunch/early dinner.  From their conversation, the two Gnomes were talking about turning in early and getting a fresh start in the morning.  As for the Elf, Sandra could see she was restless and itching to do something; unfortunately, it was still a little dangerous to go outside because it was always possible the Undead would come back – though it was unlikely.  She’d have to figure out if there were something she could have Echo help with, though she said she might go back down to the Enchantment Repository and study the enchantments there some more.

By that time, the grand tour of the dungeon was almost done with Gerold; she made sure everything else was running as smoothly as they could be before she turned her full attention back to the Dwarf.  Earlier, he had met the others – Violet and Echo – in the kitchen they were still lounging around in and had seemed a bit disconcerted with the Elf for some reason; Sandra thought at first it was because he had some sort of racial prejudice against Elves – which seemed all too prevalent – but when she saw the brief blush on his face the Dungeon Core knew exactly why.  Seeing nearly 20 naked “Echos” outside fighting against the undead must’ve been a little much for him.

It’s a good thing that they can’t really communicate verbally – the last thing we need is for him to say something about that.  Clothing for her Shapeshifters had seemed like a waste since she figured many of them would die anyway; she wasn’t expecting all of them that she sent out to die, of course, but she didn’t think modesty had any place out there in a battle between Dungeon Monsters.

Other than that, the tour had been relatively normal until the very last room she showed him, which contained her distillery.  “Wait, you distill spirits here?  Whiskey?” he asked, his eyes wide and pleading as he took in her relatively simple still.  “How about brewing?  I’d kill for a nice ale right now,” he continued, looking around the room.

* No, not really; I was using this for steaming some Cedarwood to obtain some Cedar Oil and hadn’t really had a use for it.  Besides, I don’t possess any of the required material for that…and I have to admit that – as extensive as my crafting knowledge is – it didn’t really extend to the creation of hard spirits or beer. *

“Not beer—” he said, putting specific emphasis on the word— “but Ale – they’re two completely different things.”  Sandra really didn’t have enough knowledge to contradict him, so she took him at his word.  He was silent for a moment as he stared at her distillery set-up, before seeming to come to a decision.

  Gerold’s voice was soft and a little despairing at the same time as he continued.  “I don’t know if you have much knowledge of our land, but it isn’t a secret that we’re running out of available land aboveground to grow things.  Much of it used to be used for food, but we’ve learned to cultivate other sources that can be grown in our mountain strongholds to supplement our diet; instead, we raise some livestock out here for our own purposes and have some sent back home, but most of what we actually grow on the farms near the village is used for another purpose: