Dungeon Core Academy: Books 1-7 (A LitRPG Series)

by Alex Oakchest

  “Tomlin, when I tell you to, I want you to jump off the chest, and then run to the tunnel behind me. No matter what happens, do not let the frog into my core room. Got it?”

  Tomlin sighed. “Yes, Dark Lord.”

  “Okay. Here we go…jump!”

  The kobold leaped off the chest and darted over to the tunnel. I felt anxious as I waited for the bogbadug to emerge.

  The loot chest rattled. The lid shook. Then it suddenly opened, and a rather angry overgrown frog emerged from it.

  I stared at my beetles. “Attack!”

  They made strange chirping sounds, which my core intuition translated.

  “Attack!”

  “Kill! Kill!”

  Ah, so they could talk, just not very well. They wouldn’t be having enthralling dinner conversations, anyway.

  Both insects bombarded the bogbadug with little balls of fire. They were barely bigger than apples, yet the fireballs hit the creature again and again, burning its skin and tearing holes in it.

  It made me feel bad. Only for a second though, because then I remembered that I was a core, and that particular feeling had no place in my dungeon. Besides, this was an essence-hungry intruder. If I couldn’t watch it die, how would I cope with slaughtering parties of heroes?

  So I stayed on my pedestal and watched, resolute and unrelenting, as my beetles killed the creature.

  Finally it made a rasping sound, and it fell to the ground, limp and lifeless.

  Bogbadug killed!

  You have leveled up to 2!

  - Total essence increased to 100

  - Crafting categories unlocked: Puzzles and Traps

  - Existing categories expanded

  - Dungeon capacity increased: 6 rooms, 8 traps, 4 puzzles, 8 monsters

  Your fire beetles can now learn the [warrior] specialty.

  Ah, that felt good!

  It was hard to explain just how brilliant it felt to level up. The nearest sensation was a really, really delicious meal. One that danced over your taste buds, one that left a warm feeling inside your belly. One that satisfied your hunger yet didn’t make you feel too full, and instead was just right.

  Even that delicious sensation wouldn’t compare. This felt bloody brilliant, and it wasn’t just a phantom feeling, either. This was all too real.

  I enjoyed the feeling as it worked through me. Once it left, I realized I had quite a lot to take in.

  Firstly, leveling up had increased my total essence to 100, and I couldn’t understate how important that was.

  In addition, and even more vital to my dungeon operations, was that I had unlocked both the puzzle and trap categories. This meant I could finally satisfy one of my dungeon requirements. Progress!

  Finally, my beautiful little bugs had earned an important specialty: warrior. Now, I had two creatures who could fight any dungeon intruders for me. No hesitation, no fear, just plain, blood-thirsty obedience.

  Assign specialty to fire beetles: warrior.

  Your fire beetles are now [Warriors Lvl1]!

  Hmm. The day had begun with an overgrown frog threatening my very existence, and then an annoyed overseer springing a premature evaluation on me. It hadn’t turned out too badly, when I thought about it.

  Now it was time to move a step closer to opening this place to the loot-hungry public.

  CHAPTER 16

  With a newly replenished, whopping 100 points of essence, I felt ready to conquer the world. Pity that my world consisted of miles and miles of mud.

  My first step was to install a pedestal point in room four. In there, I accessed my fixtures list and saw that new things had been added.

  Dungeon Fixtures

  Pedestal Point [Cost:12.5]

  Lamp [Cost: 10]

  Door [Cost: 15]

  Pathway [Cost: 5]

  Small Loot Chest [Cost: 20]

  *New* Iron Door [Cost: 30]

  *New* Disguised Iron Door [Cost: 35]

  *New* Lock [Cost: 10]

  *New* Rug [Cost: 15]

  Rug? Why, in the name of all that was unholy, would I want to put a rug in my dungeon?

  I mean, sure, when I first became a core, I retained a glimmer of my old self and I used to miss home comforts. I’d shed that part of myself entirely now. Even in my core room, which I supposed was the equivalent of my living quarters, I didn’t need a damn rug.

  Forgetting the useless carpet, I was happy with what I saw. Doors and locks were very important in my dungeon, for several reasons. Firstly, I now had a means of protecting my core room, and with it all of my lovely essence. It meant I had a place where I could lock myself away once the first adventurers came.

  So, I changed my priorities for a second.

  Hopping back into my core room, I did a couple of things. First, I crafted a disguised iron door and placed it at the tunnel opening. I admired my work; it was great!

  Although it functioned as a door, it looked like a mud wall. I crafted a lock onto it, and then I did the same at the end of the tunnel, where it opened into the loot door. Disguised door and lock, check.

  Now I had two disguised and lockable doors that would stop heroes from getting to my core.

  Sure, it wasn’t foolproof. If a hero party had a mage who could dispel illusions and a rogue who could pick locks, then they could still get through. But I wasn’t overly worried.

  The thing was, if the heroes made it to my loot room and defeated whatever boss monster I placed in there, they’d be too excited about opening the loot chest to bother hunting for more secrets. It didn’t make me indestructible, but I was a little safer.

  Constructing two doors and locks had sapped 90 of my 100 essence points, so I had a little waiting to do.

  I did this in my core room. Although my essence vines would replenish me no matter where I was in the dungeon, the effect was strongest at the source. Now, the vines had completely covered the two walls where I’d planted them, and they were getting much thicker. Unlike Overseer Bolton’s hair.

  Sorry, Bolton, I thought. I shouldn’t joke about that. That was mean of me, and you can’t help it.

  While I floated on my core pedestal and let the vines nourish me, I looked around, and a thought hit me.

  Man, a rug would go rather well in here, actually.

  Argh, what was I saying to myself? What a waste of essence that would be!

  My essence had replenished to fifty points, when I received a message. Not a welcomed message, either.

  Bolton had finished tearing me apart in his evaluation, and it was time to read his judgement.

  Attention, Core Beno.

  Overseer Bolton has completed your second evaluation.

  He is disappointed that you do not seem to have progressed much since his last visit. Four unfurnished rooms, save an oddly placed loot chest. You had not leveled at the time of his visit, nor have you constructed any traps or puzzles.

  Your lack of advancement has dropped your placement among the other cores to the lower 50%. Some cores have already opened their dungeons to heroes.

  However, Overseer Bolton accepts that for the purposes of your evaluation, you are not to be ranked against other cores.

  Furthermore, he noted that you have summoned a kobold and instructed him to mine for you, and your core room essence growth is impressive.

  As such, Overseer Bolton has issued an evaluation reward. Henceforth, the number of non-dungeon creatures surrounding your territory has increased, and their difficulty has heightened. I am sure you realize that this will bring increased experience points if you can kill them.

  Also, the overseers have increased the fame score of the towns and villages near your dungeon, which will attract heroes of a much higher skill level. Again, this brings better rewards.

  Uh, what?

  I had to read the evaluation three times before I dismissed it, because I couldn’t believe my eyes. Overseer Bolton had actually rewarded me?

  Did that mean that maybe he respected the fact that I’d app
ealed his earlier decision? Perhaps it was the right thing to do after all, and it gave me the idea that overseers might actually like their cores to stand up for themselves.

  Then I thought about it some more, and I re-read the reward they’d given me.

  Reward? Pah.

  They had increased the toughness of the monsters that might find their way into my dungeon, and the ones Tomlin might encounter while mining.

  As well as that, they’d gone to the villages and towns on the surface and somehow made it so that better heroes would go there, and thus the first heroes I encountered would be tougher.

  They were right in saying that would bring me more experience points and rewards for killing them…but that was the problem, wasn’t it?

  When a core first opens their dungeon, nobody really knows about it. Word hasn’t spread yet. The more famous a dungeon gets, the more highly skilled heroes want to conquer it.

  This means that early dungeons only attract crummy heroes. Teenagers trying to prove themselves, or alcoholic heroes who can barely swing a sword or cast a spell, and that kind of thing. Even then, young cores almost always lose their first fights.

  What Bolton had done, in the disguise of a reward, would make my job a hell of a lot tougher.

  No core ever passed their final evaluation without beating a party of heroes, and that had just become harder for me.

  The worst thing was that by disguising it as a reward, he had kicked me in my metaphorical balls. I couldn’t exactly appeal a reward, could I? No, definitely not. I knew the evaluation rules, and a core can only appeal a condemnation.

  Damn you, Bolton! Damn you and your stupid-ass intelligence!

  “Uh, Dark Lord,” said Tomlin, from across the dungeon. “Girl is back. Tomlin hears her.”

  Ah. Maybe things weren’t all doom and gloom, after all. At least I hadn’t lost my surface liaison.

  By the time I hopped back to room four, my essence had replenished to 75 points. Floating there in the bare room, I heard the girl making sounds behind the mud wall she had once fallen through.

  I had made Tomlin rebuild the mud so that the girl couldn’t wander in and out freely, but now I had other means of keeping her out.

  “Tomlin, would you be kind enough to dig a door shape in the mud?”

  “This will cost more study time.”

  “I know what it will cost! Demons alive, you’re the most pedantic minion I ever heard of!”

  “Tomlin honors his deals. He hopes Dark Lord will do the same.”

  “I have more integrity than you could ever know, my friend,” I said. I realized that maybe I was a little grouchy thanks to Bolton, and I shouldn’t take it out on Tomlin. “I’d appreciate it if you could dig, and of course I will dedicate time for your study this evening.”

  “Thanks, Dark Lord.”

  After Tomlin dug a hole in the mud wall, the girl sprang out with a look of pure thunder on her face. She was seriously mad, and I, a dungeon core in his own labyrinth, was a little wary of her.

  To recover some control of the situation, I said, “Ah, Vedetta. Nice to see you! Before we talk, I just have something to do.”

  “You grubby little core, I-”

  “One second,” I said.

  I quickly crafted a door and lock, placing it over the hole in the wall.

  There we go! A way for the girl to enter my dungeon, but with a nice lock to keep her out when necessary.

  “Thanks for being patient,” I told her. “Now, what can I do for you?”

  CHAPTER 17

  “Are you going to explain why you blocked me out of your dungeon?” asked Vedetta.

  Before I had a chance to answer, Tomlin scuttled over to us, and he reached out with his claws and gave Vedetta’s shoulders a gentle squeeze. “Tomlin made wall, but only because Dark Lord asked.”

  She smiled at him. “I know, Tomlin. My anger is solely for this gem. Care to explain?”

  “Overseers can drop by for an evaluation at any time, which I’m sure you know,” I said. “If they realized you were here, they would have been very, very disappointed that I hadn’t killed you yet. As luck would have it, or misfortune, I suppose, an overseer dropped by for a second evaluation.”

  “Which is why you ignored me. Hmph. Fair enough, I guess. Has it occurred to you that overseers can also view your dungeon remotely? That they might, at this very moment, see me standing here?”

  “It has, actually. Since we’re going to be working together, you might need to be here from time to time. So, I have a plan for that. A workaround.”

  “Ah, this should be good,” she said. “Well?

  “The technical definition for a hero, for a dungeon’s purposes anyway, is-”

  “’One who is not a core or monster, and finds their way into the core’s dungeon by their own means, for their own motives.’ Yes, I know,” she said.

  Hmm. She knew the definition of a hero by heart. I was now 85% sold on her story. Enough to work with her, but with a healthy dollop of doubt. There’s always a place for doubt.

  “There’s a key part to that definition,” I said. “is the whole ‘find their way into the core’s dungeon by their own means.’”

  “What’s your plan?”

  “The area outside my new door is technically not part of my dungeon. So, I suggest that going forward, whenever you need to visit me, you knock on the door. I’ll have Tomlin answer it, and he will carry you into the dungeon. That way, you haven’t found your own way in. Technically, a kobold would have kidnapped you.”

  “Very clever,” she said. I was surprised by how good it felt to get praise from a little girl. “Although, you know that the overseers aren’t idiots, yes? They’ll see through it.”

  “They can see through what they want. They still have to stick to their technicalities.”

  “I bet you’re really one of their favorites, aren’t you? Well, I guess you’re right. They will have to stick to it. I wouldn’t expect that it’ll put you in their good books, though.”

  “We’re way beyond that, Vedetta. Trust me. Now that’s settled, what’s the reason for your visit today?”

  She shrugged. “Our deal. You promised me that the kobold would help me with some mining work.”

  “I did. I’ll need something in return.”

  “What do you want?”

  “You said you earned the mining skill while you were digging your tunnels from the surface. You can locate materials better than Tomlin, who’s only a level 3.”

  “Level 3? Well done, Tomlin. Good progress!”

  I had never seen a kobold blush until then. It was a strange sight.

  “Tomlin thanks you, Vedetta,” he answered.

  The girl stared at me. “I’m a level 14 miner. I’d bet that I’m the only level 14 little girl miner in the whole of Xynnar. Learning that you were once a dungeon core does that for you, y’know. It opens your mind to possibilities and stuff. I can locate materials for you, sure. What do you need?”

  “Well, I have traps to make, and the essence cost for crafting iron stuff is killing me. Having a heap of iron would bring the crafting cost down.”

  “I can do that, but I’ll have to go back onto the surface and perform a mining scan.”

  “Great. That will buy you a few hours of hard labor from my kobold friend here.”

  Tomlin nudged me now.

  “What?” I asked.

  He nudged me again.

  Then I understood. “Ah, yes. Another thing. Would you be able to buy a few books for me? I assume your village has a bookshop.”

  “My town might be kinda backward, but they do have things called shops, yes. What do you need?”

  “Tomlin? What do you want to study?”

  The kobold scratched his chin as he thought about it. “Tomlin would like to study architecture and management.”

  I looked at him now, puzzled at his choices. “Really, Tomlin? You could learn anything. Alchemy, botany, artificery, what happened to wantin
g to know about those? You want two subjects as dry as architecture and management?”

  “Tomlin would like to be more useful in his nest. Learn to improve the slapshot placement of rooms…no offense, Dark Lord…and how to manage creatures under his supervision.”

  “Under your supervision?”

  “In Soul Bard, Tomlin is the bard’s friend, no? His second in command. Tomlin thought that…”

  I was touched by how he’d taken his name to heart, and he was right; I could use a partner. “Fine. That sounds all well and good to me. In fact, Tomlin, I hereby promote you to dungeon Lieutenant.”

  “Lieutenant?” asked Vedetta. “I believe that is an army rank, and you’ve skipped a few of them.”

  “My dungeon, my ranks. Tomlin is promoted.”

  Tomlin the kobold [Miner Lvl 3] is promoted to lieutenant!

  Relationship status with Tomlin improved from [warm] to [friend]!

  Ah, my first real friend. As a core, anyway. I’m sure in my first life, I had so many friends that I couldn’t leave the house for all the well-wishers gathered on my doorstep. Still, it felt good after starting here with nothing.

  “I’ll go to the surface and scan the ground,” said Vedetta. “I’ll try and locate iron deposits surrounding your dungeon, and then you can mine as you see fit.”

  “Great.”

  “I’d like my payment in advance, if you please. If the kobold could leave the dungeon with me, I have located a section of ground that might just have what I need.”

  A big grin spread on Tomlin’s face now. “Tomlin can see the land outside his nest?” he said, and he looked at me hopefully.

  Damn it, the stupid kobold was like a puppy! I nodded. “Go on then. I have things to do, anyway. Make sure you’re back before it gets too dark.”

  So, after Vedetta and Tomlin left the dungeon, I checked that the door was locked behind them. Then, I spent time hopping from pedestal to pedestal. I didn’t want to make traps just yet, because I needed the iron deposits, but there was stuff I could be doing.