The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5)

by Jonathan Brooks

  She figured this was also why she hadn’t ever gotten a notification when she was consuming the Gravitational Devastation Sphere left over from using the construct, which had sucked up Gerold’s armor and weapon. She thought at first that it was because that particular metal was “unique”, having been attuned to the Dwarf, and wasn’t able to be replicated; however, after absorbing the Copper-Mithril sheet that Jespin had first used to demonstrate the new metal’s capabilities, as well as a few other mixtures she played with before getting started with the Deep Diver suit, nothing with the alloy was available for her use.

  Luckily, she was far from disappointed at not being able to “cheat”, because it put her crafting skills to the test. Controlling 5 Shifters at the same time was a bit of a chore, but it paid off in the end; having manipulated a large block of the Titanium-Mithril alloy into an 8-foot-tall Deep Diver suit, she stepped back after 8 hours of intense crafting, the noise from their hammers almost deafening in their constant staccato rhythm. The suit was amazing, if she did say so herself, with the same blue-black coloring it had when she first started; long arms and delicately shaped fingers, sturdy legs and wide feet for stability, and a strategically carved faceplate for Gerold finished off the creation.

  Now came time for the enchantments. She had her new Shapeshifters gain access to all of her forms from the original Shifter a few rooms over, and when they came back she got to work. The enchantments that allowed the Deep Diver to move were placed all over the body of the suit, and Large Spirit and Natural Energy Cubes were installed to power them; Sandra wished she could use the new Generators, but without the enchantments being in an “always-on” position, they wouldn’t really work.

  She also added the same enchantments as Gerold’s previous Deep Diver suit had, with the ability to create an ice-formed battleaxe in its right hand. For its left hand, she had originally created a full-body Nether-based cloud of darkness that acted as a shield – which hadn’t worked overly well because it blinded Gerold at the same time. Instead of a full-body shield, she focused the enchantment so that it was similar to the battleaxe. Rather than a weapon, however, it would create a large, flat shield made from darkness, which he could wield like a regular tower shield. Without more time to experiment, she felt this was the best alternative.

  And with that, the suit was complete. Amazingly, when she looked in on Jespin, he was finishing up his own project, having finished the armor, shield, and now the battleaxe that came with the set. It was all a white-yellow-red color, which made it almost appear as if the King would be on fire with intensely powerful flames surrounding his body. And opposed to her efforts to make the Deep Diver suit as pristine as she could, Sandra couldn’t help but compare it unfavorably to the perfection that showed in every piece in the Master Blacksmith’s armor; not only was it formed with more skill than she currently possessed, but he had actually taken the time to inscribe decorations around the edges – simply by using pressure and a steady hand.

  It was truly a set made for a King.

  That is the most gorgeous set of equipment I think I’ve ever seen, Master Blacksmith. I see that I still have a lot to learn.

  He smiled slightly, the exhaustion finally settling into his frame as he sagged in place. “You’re never too old, never too experienced, and never too practiced at what you do to learn. Even though I’ve been doing this for centuries, I’ve discovered that there is always something more to learn – you just need to know where to look. So, keep learning, and someday you might be as good or better than I am.”

  Sandra thought there weren’t any truer words ever spoken. The Dungeon Core instructed Jespin where he could lie down to get some sleep, and he staggered to the bed and collapsed, the expenditure of his energy (over and over due to his regeneration) had obviously drained him greatly.

  Now she was alone in the dungeon with not a soul awake other than Winxa—

  Soul? Hmm, that gives me an idea….

  Chapter 40

  The last 24 hours had been a bewildering ride of ups and downs emotionally for Sandra, and she was still trying to process some of it. From experiments and discoveries, to realizations and the acquisition of knowledge – it was a lot to take in. Now that she had some time to devote to analyzing it all, given that most of her automatic processes (creating additional constructs for the aboveground defenses, improving her jewelry crafting skills via her Goblin Crafters, making additional leather armor for Orc mercenaries, and enchanting additional energy Orbs) were operating smoothly, she decided to see what she could do about the passenger in her mind.

  The Core shard was currently whining pathetically in the back of her mind, and despite all that it had done to try to control her and change her fundamentally, she couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit sorry for it. Not sorry enough that she wouldn’t eliminate it from her mind if she had a choice, but since it seemed like that wasn’t going to happen any time soon, she had to deal with it another way.

  Sandra deliberately let thoughts of connections, souls, Mithril alloys, and multi-element Elemental Orbs flow through her consciousness, all mixing together until it was hard to differentiate them all. She felt that there was some sort of reason she was contemplating them all, some higher purpose to them invading her thoughts lately. As she let them swirl around, something started to gradually solidify. It was a vague idea at first, but the more she let it stew around in the hidden vestiges of her mind, the more firm it became. She wasn’t aware of how long it took, just thinking without doing much of anything; but eventually, a theory, an experiment, and some questions all solidified enough to act on them.

  Winxa? I have what is probably an odd question for you.

  “Uh, sure. Go ahead.”

  How exactly do the souls of those who are implanted into Dungeon Cores get there?

  There was silence in her Home room as the Dungeon Fairy stared at her Core in confusion. “Wow, you like to ask the easy questions, don’t you?”

  Haha, I guess I do.

  Winxa was quiet for a few moments as she physically appeared to be searching for an answer. “Well, I don’t know the exact process – no one but the Creator knows – but I can tell you that it’s all done at the same time. Here in the mortal realm, the soul cannot exist without the Dungeon Core, and the Dungeon Core cannot exist without the soul. They are intrinsically connected, which is probably why you ended up with a portion of a Core soul when you absorbed those shards…which has caused you so many problems.”

  Can two souls share a Dungeon Core? This was the most important question she wanted to ask, because it was imperative to know if having this “soul remnant” in her mind was going to cause problems other than just trying to take over.

  “Not…that I’m aware of. The stresses of having two strong souls inside of a Core would eventually tear it apart from the inside.” Winxa seemed to think about what she had said, before rushing to assure Sandra. “But I think you’ll be alright, since the shard you absorbed wasn’t a full soul. I can’t guarantee there won’t be any lasting harm other than what you’ve already experienced, but hopefully you’ll be fine?” The questioning tone in the Fairy’s voice wasn’t very reassuring.

  Thanks, Winxa. That was what she feared.

  Although it wasn’t confirmed, the knowledge that she might be torn apart by the partial rogue Core soul in her mind wasn’t something to be ignored. By her estimation, there was really only one way to fix it.

  Give the soul fragment someplace else to inhabit.

  To begin to test her theory required an experiment. Bringing her focus back up to the deserted Bearling lair, Sandra spent 400 Mana to bring forth 50 each of Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Spirit, Natural, Holy, and Nether elements for her test. One by one, starting with non-opposing elements, she combined them together, eventually making a roiling maelstrom of all 8 colors, fighting against each other in a large ball of frightening Mana that felt like it was just on the cusp of exploding. Luckily, the balance among the elements kept it from d
etonating while she held them in place, though she could feel the strain of trying to keep all the different Mana types from trying to break off from each other.

  Before she condensed and solidified the collection of Mana, which she instinctively knew she could accomplish, she brought over her Ape she had stationed in the workshop, where it waited patiently for her instructions. With a thought and a small amount of Mana, she created a very tiny sphere of Mithril in its hand; it was barely larger than a grain of sand, but based on the ratios between other materials and the soft metal, she figured it was more than enough.

  Taking a figurative deep breath, Sandra steadied her concentration and started to condense the roiling mass of multi-elemental Mana floating in the middle of the room. Using the icosahedron 20-sided shape – the same as her Elemental Generators – felt appropriate, so she pushed with all of her will to condense the powerful forces into a singular gem-like shape. Just before she felt as if it would *click* into place, she did two things.

  One, she ordered her Ape to toss the tiny orb of Mithril right into the middle of her Mana-based creation. The construct tossed it perfectly, and as it passed through the condensed swirling mass, she did the second thing: Sandra projected an image of herself toward the Mana, or what she saw as herself in her mind – a “copy” of her self-actualization. It wasn’t so much of a physical manifestation as it was a bundle of thoughts, but she could feel as if it had a presence, nonetheless.

  As soon as the Mithril and her image copy was inside of the roiling Mana construct, she squeezed the Mana until it condensed fully into a solid state, encapsulating the Mithril inside. As if she were watching in slow motion, she saw the Mana *click* into a new form, just as an eruption of light blinded her so completely that she had to look away from the Bearling lair. Nothing, not even the Holy traps she had created in her dungeon had been that intense, and it took her a moment to recover. What did I do?!

  She didn’t feel anything throughout the rest of her dungeon, so she was fairly certain it didn’t explode; but it wasn’t until she ventured her viewpoint back up to the Bearling lair that she saw what she was hoping for.

  Her construct had somehow reacted instinctively, and it was now delicately holding a shining beacon of multi-colored light. After a few moments, the glare started to fade from blinding to a steady glow, and it was then that she was able to see the new creation for what it was: a 20-sided, radiating, crystal-like object that had swirling colors inside, reminding Sandra of her Shapeshifters in their natural form.

  New Object found!

  Resonating Prismatic Core

  This Resonating Prismatic Core cannot be used as a Monster Seed nor as an Origination Material.

  Warning!

  If Resonating Prismatic Core is not used within 48 hours, severe damage to the connected soul will be imminent, up to and including complete destruction.

  Uh, oh.

  “What now?” Winxa asked, concerned.

  Sandra didn’t answer right away, because she was mulling over what had happened. She had intended to create something that would help to act as a home to the soul remnant in her mind. In theory, it appeared as if it would work; but she had inadvertently created something that might end up hurting her – perhaps fatally. Instead of just blowing up catastrophically like the Elemental Generators she had created, if she didn’t use this “Core” within 48 hours, it would damage her very soul – which was everything that made Sandra who she was. Whether or not that would destroy her Core at the same time was unknown, but either way, it was bad.

  The easy solution was to just absorb it, as she had experimented earlier by absorbing a Generator, just to make sure it was possible. Only…when Sandra attempted to absorb the Resonating Prismatic Core in her construct’s hand, nothing happened. It was almost as if it didn’t exist to her dungeon senses as something that could be “eaten”, even though she could see it.

  Winxa, I think we have a problem.

  “Can’t you just hook it up to an enchantment to use it, like you do the Generators you made?” the Dungeon Fairy asked as soon as Sandra relayed what had happened.

  That seemed like the obvious way to fix it, but the Dungeon Core was freaking out a little bit by that point and hadn’t thought of it. Quickly, she brought all of the components to make some enchantments on a large, flat piece of Gold, as well as 4 of her Shapeshifters. She figured that if she created 8 different PEEs utilizing every type of Mana inside of the Core, that should do the trick; she didn’t want to bother with doing it halfway – she might as well go full-out and use them all.

  It took a few minutes to get the enchantments correct, as it was difficult to hold 8 separate PEEs at the same time, but she managed it somehow. As she put the Core down on the Gold, along with a Spirit Energy Orb with the Limiter rune to regulate the energy transfer, she released the holding patterns and let them solidify. She was successful for all of a split second before the energy pumped into the PEEs ran out, and the enchantments disappeared. In short, it didn’t work.

  She tried again, thinking that she had connected them all together incorrectly, but that didn’t seem to be the case, as that hadn’t worked, either. Then she tried a smaller number of PEEs, only 4 of them, then up to 5, then down to 3, and so on – but none of it worked, no matter what she tried. She even thought to try something as benign as an enchantment that would just cause the Gold sheet to glow. Sandra thought she had been successful, as it lit up for nearly a minute, but the small amount of Holy energy with which she had established the enchantment petered out and it went dark.

  This isn’t working, Winxa. What do I do?! Sandra was starting to grow increasingly concerned.

  The Dungeon Fairy shook her head. “I have no idea. What do you think it means by being ‘used’, then, if not for enchantments? What was your thought behind its creation in the first place?”

  Well, I—

  It couldn’t be that simple…and difficult…at the same time, could it?

  Hold on.

  “What? What are you—?”

  Sandra ignored the rest of what Winxa was saying as she turned her attention inward, conjuring up the same area of self-actualization that had allowed her to regain control the first time the Core shard had taken over. All of the bubbles containing her knowledge were still there, as well as the ones that represented her Dungeon Monsters, as well as her relationships with her friends and other Visitors. It was those relationships that she had leaned on to help strengthen her sense of self, so that her image in the middle of it all was strong and solid. Near the bottom of her foot, on her pinky toe, was a small distortion that she thought indicated the presence of the other Core’s soul fragment in her mind.

  Without taking the time to consider the implications of working inside of her mind, Sandra visualized 8 separate Mana concentrations of different elements coming together – exactly like what she had just done in the Bearling lair. She even visualized a Mithril speck being introduced to the maelstrom of Mana, just as before, but instead of her own image being projected inside of what was going to be the Resonating Prismatic Core she was visualizing, she imagined her image “plucking” the distortion off of her toe like a piece of lint, before dropping towards the Mana-Mithril construct. Sandra could see it trying to float back to her image in order to latch on again, but she moved her entire creation in the way to intercept it.

  As soon as everything was together, she condensed it all into a single compacted construct, feeling it click into place with another bright flash of light that was actually quite painful to experience. It felt like an explosion had gone off in her mind, searing her thoughts; she felt all automatic operations going on in her dungeon, as well as all of her constructs and Dungeon Monsters aboveground pause. She was suddenly glad that she wasn’t currently under attack, because it was quite possible that they wouldn’t respond in the slightest.

  When the pain faded and she was able to look inside of her mind again, she saw a representation of the Resonating Prismatic
Core floating in front of her image, not entirely clear of any type of blemishes. There was something wrong with the Core, however, as it shook uncontrollably, appearing as if it was going to explode at any moment; the soul fragment inside was struggling to be released, and it would burst soon if she didn’t do something.

  The only thing she could think of to do, and the one “use” of the Core she had determined was appropriate, was to instruct her image to reach out and touch the now-vibrating object. The arms snapped up and cupped the Prismatic Core in her hands…and then she activated her Bond.

  Almost immediately, the object containing the Core soul fragment stilled, and she felt a tension that she hadn’t even realized was constricting her mind loosen and disappear. It was replaced with an influx of knowledge about Core contracts and information about the urges and drives of Dungeon Cores that she “knew” about but didn’t really understand before. Now, though, she comprehended how the other Cores in the world operated, which was a frightening experience to Sandra, and she was triply glad that she hadn’t been constrained by a contract like that.

  She could also “feel” the soul fragment inside of the Prismatic Core in her image’s hands. It had calmed down entirely, losing its raving need to fulfill its urges and desires. Looking and inspecting it with every sense she had at her disposal, it seemed almost dormant now. Not gone, but…asleep, if such a thing were possible. It seemed as if the Bond she established with it had quieted the instinctual urges that had been driving it to take control; without those, it didn’t have enough of a soul left to do anything else.