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

* Something that I’ve been putting off for a little bit.  I may not be available for a couple of days, but I’ll make sure you’ve got plenty of food to eat.  You can always visit the growing room and pick as many fruit off of the trees there as you want – just don’t go past the Enchantment Repository.  I’ll have some extremely deadly traps set up below that to protect my Core while I’m undergoing…improvements. *

Violet agreed that she wouldn’t and headed downstairs to Kelerim’s old room, which Sandra decided to rename Violet’s Room, as she was going to be staying there for a little while.  She was happy that the Gnome had decided to stay, even if it was for someone else’s sake; Sandra figured there was even more that she could learn from the Apprentice Enchanter if she dug far enough.

And, hopefully, with an additional Core Size Upgrade, she’d finally be able to take advantage of that knowledge.

Chapter 34

Violet got a little bit more to eat before crashing in her room, where she looked ready to sleep for the rest of the day, if not more than that. As for Sandra, she worked on replacing the constructs that had left her dungeon to escort the other Gnomes to the border of the wasteland and slightly beyond – just in case.  Her Shears that were keeping an eye near the destroyed Gnome village of Glimmerton hadn’t seen even a single lizard or other reptile since the two Ancient Saurians had retreated almost two days ago.  That didn’t mean they weren’t just hiding in the forest waiting for someone to walk by, however.

Her own Area of Influence only reached a small distance into the trees, so her flying construct couldn’t see anything dangerous near the forest border.  Sandra knew the other Dungeon Core was out there, but she didn’t know in what precise direction and how deep it was in the trees.  As a result, she couldn’t accurately predict when or if the Core would attack again, but she estimated that the party of Gnomes had until the end of the day to get out of range.

It took nearly five hours for the Hauler and the three wagons to navigate its way the just over four miles to the border of the wastelands, and by that time Sandra had been able to replace almost every construct that went with them inside her dungeon.  Once they were on flatter, less-destroyed land, they were able to move much swifter and quickly reached the point where they couldn’t travel any farther.  When they suddenly stopped, Sandra spoke to them all.

* That’s it, everyone – my constructs can’t go any farther.  Good luck and I hope to see you all again sometime! *

They said their goodbyes and departed, moving a bit faster than they were previously as their protective escort was no longer with them.  She couldn’t blame them – sometimes speed was its own defense.

Sandra directed her constructs back to her dungeon, where they would act as a sort of reserve force inside her Assembly and Storage room, as their replacements were already in place.  They raced back in a fraction of the time it took them to travel with the Gnomes, and when they arrived Sandra started to seal almost everything up.  She closed all of the access to the VATS, waited for her Mana to refill a bit before she set up her flame traps meant to destroy anyone entering her Home, and then cooked and salted some more Bearling meat for Violet when she woke up.  Of course, she made a whole lot more than the little Gnome could likely eat in a month, but it was necessary on the off chance that Felbar – or even Echo – woke up before Sandra was done with her Upgrade.

She honestly hoped that Echo didn’t wake up when Sandra wasn’t there to speak to her, because she doubted she would be any more accommodating toward Violet and Felbar than the Elven villagers were towards Junipar.  As much as it sounded counter-intuitive, she wanted those two to stay unconscious – at least for now.

For herself, she set up her little sphere of Singing Blademasters around her Core again, though she added a few Small Animated Shears to add some variety.  When everything was as ready as she thought it was going to get, Sandra asked Winxa if she was ready.

“Of course I am!  I’m actually very excited for you to Upgrade to Size 20 and finally unlock your Advancement system; it’s been a long time since I’ve been around a Core for this long, and since…Wester…that I’ve been near a Core that knows about the special Advancements they can choose,” the Dungeon Fairy said happily.  “And hopefully you’ll find some way to stop the Elves from wanting to destroy you,” she added, with a faint hint of worry in her voice.

Well, I’m excited, too – but probably for different reasons than you.  I can just see the potential for crafting that will come from it…

And with that, Sandra confirmed her decision to Upgrade her Core Size – and her awareness shrank down to just a small portion of her Home room.  It was as boring and mind-numbing as ever, but the potential rewards for reaching Size 20 – along with Winxa’s conversation and Sandra’s flying constructs – made the experience not as horrible as she remembered.  Either that, or she was getting used to it enough to not freak out every time she was trapped within her Core.

Core Size Upgrade Stage complete!

12/12 Completed

Your Core has grown!

Current Size: 20

Mana Capacity increased!

Raw Material Capacity increased!

New Advancement Options Available! (Unlocked)

I did it!  Finally, Sandra had done it; getting to Core Size 20 seemed like an insurmountable challenge when she first learned about the Advancement