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

by Jonathan Brooks

  “Do it, Echo! We’ll hold them off!”

  The Elven Ranger obeyed the order from her Queen, and Sandra watched as she flew up on Starlight 3, pulling the Resonating Prismatic Core from the pouch in front of her. Strangely, even though the Core was in another dungeon entirely and should be completely cut off from her, she could feel the connection with it, stronger than any other connection she had with any of her Dungeon Monsters. Probably because it is a part of me.

  Dodging arrows shot by Goblin Archers and fireballs flung out by Goblin Mages, Echo deftly flew her Pegasus next to the Spirit-based Core and held out her hand holding Sandra’s Prismatic Core—only to have an arrow shoot her in her hand, knocking the Core away and flinging it out of her control. Echo screamed as she tried to grab it, but she was too late.

  It fell toward the ground, heading for a fate of being lost in the press of Goblin forms below, but it suddenly stopped in mid-air. Sandra used the Totem she was looking out of to see the Elven Queen holding her hand towards the Prismatic object, before moving it towards Echo. Just as she was about to hand it off, an arrow flew out of the press of enemies and slammed into the Queen’s side, plunging into her flesh an inch before stopping. The sudden impact and pain caused the Royal Elf to lose her concentration and the Core dropped—

  —but Echo reached out with her good hand, snatched it out of the air, and in one smooth motion swung it around and touched the other Dungeon Core.

  Sandra immediately initiated a Bond with the Goblin Core, hoping and praying to the Creator that it would work. She felt a momentary stab of worry as nothing seemed to happen for a second…and then her mind went blank.

  Chapter 48

  The blankness in her mind felt like it lasted an eternity, but when she was finally aware of the world around her, she was cognizant that very little time had passed. Point in fact, it appeared as though not even a second had progressed – nor was it currently progressing. The world had frozen around her awareness.

  “WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!”

  The angry voice seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, but she intuitively knew where it originated. Looking around the Goblin-Classification Core’s “Core” room, which was a strange experience because she shouldn’t be able to see it like that, Sandra focused on the greyish crystal near her.

  “My name is Sandra, and I’m here to help—”

  “YOU! YOU ARE THE ONE THAT IS PREVENTING ME FROM GETTING WHAT I NEED! I WILL DESTROY YOU!”

  Such rage was not wholly unexpected, because she had experienced some of it herself with the Core soul fragment in her own mind, but this was on a whole new level. She was suddenly glad that it hadn’t been a full-strength Core that had integrated into her consciousness, because she wasn’t sure if she could’ve withstood it for long.

  “No, I’m only trying to keep you from killing any people—”

  “WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT I NEED TO DO TO EXPAND AND BECOME THE STRONGEST DUNGEON IN THE WORLD!”

  Sandra could instantly tell that the Goblin Core wasn’t going to listen to her, no matter what she said. It was too consumed with anger, rage, and the drive to fulfill its contracts with the Creator that nothing would change its mind; as far as it was concerned, it was right, and she was wrong. From its perspective, Sandra was the bad one, the evil one that was blocking it from fulfilling its destiny.

  She was reminded of her days as a merchant with her father, and an incident with a supplier of enchanted weapons. The supplier, who was one of their regulars up to that point, insisted that one of the swords he was selling to them had an enchantment on it that it didn’t. Neither the supplier nor her father could actually check it to see if it was indeed enchanted – but Sandra could. She recognized that it was enchanted with a Minor Fire Resistance enchantment that would allow the sword to withstand quite a bit of heat, but it was entirely different from what the supplier insisted was on there. She couldn’t even remember what the enchantment was supposed to be other than a very expensive one, but the supplier wouldn’t listen to reason.

  Because he had been duped and wouldn’t – or couldn’t – admit it.

  Long story short, the supplier accused Sandra and her father of trying to cheat him, making them out to be the bad ones in the situation. Even offering to have an Enchanter look at the weapon to prove that it was enchanted with something else wouldn’t appease the man, so they ended up terminating their working relationship with the supplier after that.

  Essentially, no matter what they said or did to prove the weapon wasn’t what the supplier insisted it was, he wouldn’t listen. She and her father were powerless to do anything at the time – but that didn’t quite translate to the here and now. Sandra was far from powerless.

  Ignoring the continued ranting about destroying her Core and whatnot, which she had gotten fairly used to from the fragmented soul in her mind, she focused on her Resonating Prismatic Core. It was currently touching the side of the Goblin Core, Echo pressing it against the glowing crystalline form with her hand. Hmm…there’s one thing that normally happens during a bonding, but maybe it needs a little push.

  “I WILL—WAIT; WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

  Observing from outside of the Cores, she watched as her Prismatic one slowly pressed into the side of the Goblin Core, allowing it to be absorbed little-by-little.

  “NO!!! YOU’RE GOING TO DESTROY—”

  The shouting continued right up until the Core was fully absorbed, which was then replaced by blessed silence. In addition to the silence, there was something else that happened: A tiny presence in the back of her mind, not invasive or threatening, appeared.

  “Hello?”

  For the first time, she heard the other Core in a non-shouting state, and it was coherent enough that she could make out a male-sounding voice.

  “Hello? Is this the Goblin Core?”

  There was a little chuckle coming from the presence in her mind, followed by a verbal response. “Is that what you’ve been thinking of me as? Well, I guess it fits based on my Classification, but I’d rather you call me Mychal.”

  “Mychal? That sounds almost Human.”

  “I was…I think. My memories are a bit jumbled, and I barely even remember my own name. All of this has suppressed who I was, and now I only really exist as a Dungeon Core. How—?” The voice paused for a moment. “How did you manage to keep yourself whole?”

  Sandra explained in brief who she was and what she had done to keep her mind intact, though she hurried through it because she felt as if time were running out. “I don’t think we have much time. I need to know, will you stop trying to destroy my Core now?”

  “Y-yes, I believe so. In fact, I find that I now have very little desire to kill any more people out in the world above. Though…”

  When he didn’t continue, Sandra prompted him. “Though, what?”

  His voice was starting to become a bit shaky. “I don’t think I can help myself. The contract with the Creator is too strong of a force, and I can’t resist it entirely. These people in my dungeon are starting to bring back some of the anger that your presence has seemed to calm, but the need to kill them as a threat to my existence is too hard to ignore.”

  That didn’t sound good. “What will you do?”

  “I…I think I have to try killing them, or my Core will end up shattering. I have no urge to send any of my Monsters above right now, but I can’t say how long that will last. Some feeling of mine says that if I build up my defensive population in my dungeon to a certain point, I’ll be contractually obligated to send them out. I can probably withstand the need to do that for a little while, but ultimately I will send them out to expand again, killing whatever they encounter.”

  “I can understand that.” She did, too – it was ingrained into their nature, after all. The knowledge she had gained earlier from the soul fragment allowed her to comprehend the urge, the need to expand, but without the insane anger and rage that went with it, it could be contro
lled. Up to a point, of course.

  It wasn’t the best-case scenario, but it would have to do.

  “We’re out of time,” the other Core suddenly said in her mind. “I really don’t want to kill anyone else right now, but if those people don’t leave in the next few minutes, there’s nothing I can do to stop it. GET THEM OUT OF HERE!”

  The shout wasn’t one of anger or rage, but one of desperation. She understood what he was trying to do, and she wouldn’t waste the opportunity.

  Looking around the room from the perspective of the Goblin Core – which she suddenly comprehended that she was inherently connected to – she saw the world slowly coming back up to speed. Their entire conversation had taken at least 10 minutes, but less than a fraction of a second had passed in the real world; now that the Bonding process was complete, everything was returning back to normal.

  With a rush, the party she had sent into the dungeon rushed into motion, but the Goblins were still moving at a super-slow speed. Before anyone could continue the slaughter they were undergoing of the Monsters in the Core room, she immediately froze everyone using the Bond she had with them.

  * Don’t kill any more! Run! I’m carving a hole in the wall located in the previous room, but you’ll have to blast the rest of the way through yourselves. I’ll explain everything when you’re safe. *

  She let them go in less than a second, so it probably felt less like she was controlling them and more like something fundamental had changed in the dungeon itself. At least, that was what she was hoping, because she didn’t want them to be frightened of her control.

  Rather than argue, they retreated immediately, their job done. For Sandra’s part, she carved away as much of the wall separating the main connection tunnel with the Goblin-Classification dungeon, leaving a thin strip of Stone left to be demolished.

  As the party ran through the previous room where they had just slaughtered thousands of Monsters, they passed by slow-moving Goblins that were rapidly increasing in speed. Fortunately, nothing was fast enough to actually attack them; when they located the spot they needed, the Elven King blasted through the thin sheet of stone covering their exit with a barrage of boulders formed by a spell – and they were through, just as the Goblins returned to full speed.

  Sandra joined the others as they turned to look into the formerly hostile dungeon, and the Goblins inside just stared back at them. There was no sudden surge by them to attack, though they appeared ready to defend the dungeon with their lives if it came down to it. Moments later, a new stone wall started to appear, covering up the entrance to the other dungeon, as well as the second one that Sandra had made; it wasn’t her doing, though – it was the Goblin dungeon sealing off access.

  Looking above ground, she also saw the Goblins that had been running back enter inside and not leave, which hopefully meant that they wouldn’t any time soon, but that was the least of her worries right now. It was the other dungeons that concerned her right now, with how they were still striving to destroy her Core—

  Except, even as she thought that, all 3 hordes of Dungeon Monsters started to withdraw their forces, making an orderly retreat back to their own dungeons. Not for a moment did she think they would stay that way for long, though, because she now understood what they were doing. They were reacting to the loss of one of their number, and as they likely didn’t know the source of the occurrence, they were retreating to protect their own interests. Namely, their Cores.

  When you added in the fact that they hadn’t received a notification that another Dungeon Core was destroyed nearby and their enhancements were increasing, the whole situation probably didn’t sit well with them.

  Sandra watched the last of the Goblins trickle into the dungeon from above, before turning to those that had helped her make this possible. Before she could communicate with them, however, she was interrupted.

  Congratulations!

  You have discovered another Advancement Source!

  Dungeon Core Bonding:

  Receive AP for Bonding with another Dungeon Core, calming their anger and homicidal urges

  20 AP per Dungeon Core Bonded

  Current AP Earned: 20 AP (1X Goblin Classification Core)

  What? How? Sandra was confused and flabbergasted at the sight before her. It was almost as if….

  Winxa? I think I finally found the reason why the Creator brought me here.

  “What? Why?” the Dungeon Fairy asked, fluttering all over her Home room excitedly.

  Sandra described the newly discovered Advancement Source, the last one on her list. I don’t think I was single-handedly supposed to save everyone, only to provide a means where they had to save themselves. Things have gotten so out of hand the way things were that the Creator needed some way to fix what was broken; I think that I am that way.

  Winxa was silent as she cocked her head to the side, thinking. “You could definitely be right. It makes more sense than you being powerful enough to destroy all of the Cores or culling everything yourself. Imagine what kind of power and control you would have if you got to that point.”

  Her mentioning of control got her thinking. While the bonding was ultimately beneficial to her because it prevented one of the Dungeon Cores from wanting to obsessively destroy her, as well as giving her some Advancement Points, she thought there might be a little more to it. With those of the different races she bonded with, she was able to control them if it was necessary, though she didn’t like to do it unless she had no other choice. It was inherently wrong for Sandra to do that unless it was to save a life, she thought, and most times she liked to forget that she even had the ability.

  But could she do the same with another Dungeon Core?

  Nope. The answer was a resounding no. She found that she could connect with Mychal (a.k.a. the Goblin-Classification Core) and view around his Core room, but that was about the limit of the “control” she had. Except for one little thing, which was definitely an interesting development.

  As soon as she dug in further to the other Core, trying to exert any type of control – even temporarily, she received a notification.

  Due to your Bonding status with this Goblin-Classification Core, you may select for your own use 1 Dungeon Monster of your choice that the Core currently possesses.

  When she dismissed that notice, a list of potential Dungeon Monsters popped up, and she was able to see every single Goblin and Hobgoblin to which Mychal had access.

  Goblin Worker (already acquired)

  Goblin Foreman (already acquired)

  Goblin Crafter (already acquired)

  Goblin Miner

  Goblin Scout

  Goblin Archer

  Goblin Ranger

  Goblin Warrior

  Goblin Chief

  Goblin Commander

  Goblin Necromancer

  Armored Goblin

  Hobgoblin Brute

  Hobgoblin Mage

  Seeing how powerful the Goblin Necromancer had been, she nearly picked that one – but then she realized how dangerous that could be to have out in the world. She could always not use it, of course, but that would render her selection – by literal definition – useless. Instead, she chose something that might be a little more useful, something that she hadn’t really possessed at that point except through the use of her Shapeshifters: Hobgoblin Mage.

  It could be useful as both a means of ranged damage and to freeze a target in place, the latter of which was highly useful. She had a lot of offense when it came to her constructs and Advancement unlocked creations, but very few of them had a real defensive aspect to them.

  When that was selected, she found it on her list of available creation options, under a whole new heading.

  Bonded Creation Options

  Name:

  Mana Cost: (60% Reduction)

  Hobgoblin Mage

  240

  Originally 600 Mana to create, the new Goblin Mage only required 240 because of her Advancement unlocks. Sandra suddenly understood how t
he other Cores could create so many powerful Monsters so quickly, especially if they possessed some Core-specific Skills that reduced the price of a specific type of Monster. When you added in the enhancements from the local Core destruction, they were able to accumulate an army in seemingly no time.

  When she closed out of everything, she was presented with some very confused and curious people.

  “Sandra? Sandra? Are you okay? What is going on?”

  She wasn’t sure how long Echo had been calling for her, but the Dungeon Core answered as soon as she was aware of her name being called.

  * Sorry about that, I was distracted for a moment. I want to thank you for all of your help – because it was a success! As much of a success as possible, I guess I should amend. *

  “What exactly does that mean?” King Mynag asked impatiently. He – as well as everyone else – looked exhausted, but there was a glint in his eye that hinted that he had enjoyed himself.

  * Well, I have managed to curb many of the rage-filled, murderous impulses coming from the other Core, but there is a limit to what can be done. I’m still trying to wrap my head around exactly what this means, but I believe it will be highly beneficial in the future.

  * For one, this Core is going to maintain all of its Dungeon Monsters within its dungeon instead of immediately sending them out into the world to kill and expand its Area of Influence – up to a point. At some stage when the dungeon is full of Monsters, it will be…obligated…to start sending them out; while they will still try to kill everyone they come across, I believe any large-scale assaults on surrounding habitations will be eliminated. Attacks by singular Monsters will still be likely, though.