The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4)

by Jonathan Brooks

  “It seems as though the Archaic Beasts Classification is a catch-all that encompasses everything, well…archaic,” the Dungeon Fairy explained. “I’ve heard of some of what you described being available in other Classifications, like the ‘Ancient Sabretooth’ being a type of large cat that can be created by Beast-based Cores when they upgrade their Core Size enough.”

  Neither of them knew what the Ancient “flying” Monsters were, however, and despite a curiosity that nearly convinced her to go ahead and get one of the funky-named creatures, she’d rather try some that she had at least a small amount of knowledge about. At least, try to initially eliminate some so that she could narrow her choices down even further.

  “From what I know, the Air Elementals are powerful manifestations of Air-based aspects, usually with differing levels of rushing winds in different forms,” Winxa told her, doing her best to present facts about her choices without passing judgement. “These can be anything from columns of hardened air, to raging whirlwinds that could tear someone apart. Most Elemental variants, not just Air, are rarely ever chosen by a Dungeon Core because their utility is limited and there isn’t as much variation as you’d find with almost any other Classification. Not only that, but with the right counter – in this case, something that revolves around Earth – most of the Elemental Monsters are rendered ineffective.”

  I don’t care so much about if they can fight; I want to know if they can transport someone or something effectively. Unfortunately, I don’t think these would work.

  “Well, then, the Cockatrice is too much like a Dragon for my own liking; just think of a large lizard with a chicken for a head,” Winxa continued, before she put her hands up in supplication. “Then again, it’s your choice so you can do whatever you want to.”

  I think that’s out, too.

  “The Thunderbird is more than large enough for your purposes; however, I believe that lightning will constantly arc through its body. Keep that in mind for any…passengers.”

  Nope.

  “Gargoyles are extremely strong and could carry a large load, but the inherent weight of their stone bodies mean that they cannot fly fast or long without setting down. Their flight is more like a controlled glide than anything.”

  Out.

  “Dust Golems are similar to Earth Elementals in that they are made of an Earthen material, but that is where the similarities end. Basically, these Golems are able to condense enough of their ‘dust’ bodies together to attack with, and they are light enough to lift themselves up in the air. They have slow speed, however, and can be affected negatively by high winds.”

  Gone.

  “Cranes are large birds that may or may not be able to hold a light person—”

  No.

  “Now, for some that you might like. The Giant Eagle is an even larger bird with a 20-foot wingspan that could easily hold at least two people just behind their necks and in front of their wings. They are mainly known for being able to shred their targets with their impressively sharp talons, and their beaks could tear an arm off of—”

  Sandra really didn’t need to hear that. Um…can it lift a load?

  The Dungeon Core’s question cut Winxa off in mid-speech, and it seemed like the Fairy was really getting into her explanation of the different Monsters. “—Uh…well, it could certainly grasp something in its talons, though I’m not sure exactly how much weight it would be able to handle.”

  …okay, we’ll come back to that one.

  “Let’s see, then; well, the Griffin is similar to the Giant Eagle in size, though it has the lower body of a lion. Better suited for carrying passengers, as well—”

  Do you think it could carry a load?

  Winxa seemed miffed that she kept getting interrupted, but Sandra really wanted to choose one so that she could get started. The Dungeon Core really needed something that could transport more than just people, as she wanted to use whatever Monster she chose to carry supplies and equipment through the air. She had transported many goods over land during her years as a merchant, so she knew that – even with a little help from her constructs and crafted conveyances – that it was just too slow for what she envisioned.

  “I think they could carry a small load, though again probably not very much.”

  We’ll table that one as well.

  “Fine. There’s really only two of them left that you asked me about, and I don’t know anything about them: Animated Slab and Aerie Roc.”

  Then I guess it’s time to start unlocking some Dungeon Monsters…

  Chapter 5

  While the other potential candidates for her transportation Monster were still a possibility, the two that Winxa didn’t know about seemed like a good idea to check out. Sandra was most interested in the Animated Slab, because if it was anything like her Reinforced Animated Shears, then it was more than likely that it could move very quickly – which was exactly what she needed. Depending on what it actually was when she created it, the Slab might be able to hold people and cargo along with moving fast.

  There was only one way to find out.

  Using 5 of her Advancement Points, she selected the Animated Slab from the list and felt the familiar tingle as something subtle shifted within her Core.

  New Dungeon Monster unlocked through Advancement!

  Transitional Golems (Air/Earth):

  Animated Slab now available!

  Animated Slab

  Mana Cost: 25000 Mana

  Sandra was, at first, a little worried when she saw how much Mana the Animated Slab cost, but then she remembered that amount was before her Advancements that reduced its cost took effect. When she looked at her new Dungeon Monster in her Advancement Creation Options menu, fortunately, the updated cost was reflected at 17,500 – which was well within her available Mana of 19,558.

  Advancement Creation Options

  Name:

  Mana Cost: (30% Reduction)

  Goblin Foreman

  56

  Radiant Pegasus

  7000

  Rising Phoenix

  10500

  Unstable Shapeshifter

  11200

  Celestial Authority

  12600

  Animated Slab

  17500

  It was still a lot, though, so it took a little over an hour of waiting to accumulate enough – while still producing a smaller amount of extra Shears and Tarantulas for her ongoing absorption project – to try out her new creation. Luckily, she still had two Small Dragon Glass Slivers in her treasury; they were the only two objects she still had in there that would allow her to gain some Mana back (when they were absorbed) in case she desperately needed it. It was her reserve’s reserve, so to say, and once she used them that would be it until she built her treasury back up.

  Therefore, when she had enough Mana at her disposal, she had one of her Automatons bring out the Small Dragon Glass Sliver from her treasury and deposit it on the floor near her Core. She quickly infused the Monster Seed with the required amount of Mana – and gasped in shock at what was created.

  This…this is perfect!

  Animated Slab

  Current Elemental Energy:

  Air – 12500 energy

  Earth – 12500 energy

  Special Ability:

  Levitation: 10 Air energy per hour

  Manipulate Form: 5 Earth energy per minute

  Lying flat on the floor of her Home, a large square slab of the same stone she used in her dungeon appeared, with each side of the Animated Slab at least 20 feet in length and approximately 6 inches thick throughout its entire form. It was also fairly indistinguishable from her floor, and if it hadn’t been lying on top of the floor – and was, instead, placed in a hole in the floor – then someone could walk right over it without knowing. It reminded her of a trap of some kind because of its ability to blend in with the stone; it turned out that it was so much more.

  The “animated” part was easy enough to see when she instructed her new Dungeon Mons
ter to “walk” around; a portion of the four corners of the Slab folded inward and downwards, forming a point that were used as basic-looking legs to move it around her Home room. Seeing what else it could do, she instructed it to attack one of her Animated Shears she had floating around her Home, which she brought down specifically so the Slab could attack it.

  When the Shears got close to the new Monster, the slab of stone stiffly pushed off its front legs and rocked backwards on its hind legs. When it was nearly vertical, the front legs disappeared and folded back up straight, creating something that looked just like a wall that had feet; that didn’t last long, though, as the slab seemed to split down the middle and stopped three-quarters of the way down from bisecting itself completely. The two partial halves bent forwards at sharp angles, folding their upper sections until they came to a point – which then stabbed out at the Shears, with one side impacting and completely destroying the flying metal construct with little apparent effort.

  That might seem like a lot for the Animated Slab to go through to attack, but it did all of that changing in less than a second’s time. It was quite impressive, and would likely prove deadly to any unprepared people trying to fight it…but that wasn’t why she unlocked the use of the Dungeon Monster in the first place. She played around with instructing it to create different shapes, finding that it could fold its stone slab around like a giant, stiff piece of paper; all of the angles it could form were for the most part sharp, and it couldn’t shape itself into anything complex or with too many moving parts. It was limited, granted, but she was also able to get the Slab to form short walls along every edge, which would aid in keeping things she wanted to transport on the Monster without worrying about them falling off.

  She was even more excited to learn that, like her Animated Shears, it could levitate and fly around…until she observed the limitations there as well. It could float off of the floor up to 10 feet high, which wasn’t horrible – if not ideal. What made it worse, though, was the speed that it could move around when levitating. Or, lack of speed would be more accurate; it floated around slower than Sandra thought she could casually walk if she still had a body, and was much slower than all but her few original Tiny Automatons and Clockwork Spiders still present in her Home room. Even trying to speed it up by pushing or dragging it with another construct or Monster wouldn’t work – as she found out when she attempted just that – as it wouldn’t move faster than its normal speed no matter what she did.

  “I’m only assuming here, but my guess is that if they were able to fly around as fast as your Shears, the Animated Slabs would be entirely too powerful for it only being an Advanced Classification Level 1 Dungeon Monster. Can you imagine how powerful it would be if it could just ram itself into a group of people and smash them flat?” Winxa added, after seeing Sandra’s new Monster in action.

  I…can see that. Doesn’t help me, though.

  Sandra was thoroughly disappointed because she thought she had a winner in the Animated Slab. She was sure she could still find a use for her new Dungeon Monster, even if transportation were out of the question. Or, at least, long-distance travel; if she was delivering goods to the nearby villages, then the Slab might be a great way to haul literal tons of supplies. She could sense, when she was directing it, that it would take something like the extremely heavy, condensed material created from her use of the Gravitational Devastation Sphere to really weigh it down in any significant capacity.

  Regardless of its not-so-ideal use as a long-range transportation service Monster, Sandra could see a lot of potential use for the Animated Slab inside of her dungeon. The previous thought of it being used as a Monster-based trap was obvious, but it was also fairly powerful in its own right as a formidable foe – it was made of stone after all. Naturally, attacks that could shatter rocks and stones would be particularly effective against it, though not a lot else would be; even more than her constructs, Fire-based attacks wouldn’t harm it, nor would many other element-based spells or effects. It wasn’t perfect, by any means, but if used in certain scenarios, the Slab could be a particularly useful addition to her defenses.

  I guess I better check out what the other Monster is, before going back and seeing which one of the others might work.

  Without further delay, Sandra pulled up her Advancement Menu again and purchased the Aerie Roc Dungeon Monster for use in her dungeon.

  New Dungeon Monster unlocked through Advancement!

  Avians (Air):

  Aerie Roc now available!

  Aerie Roc

  Mana Cost: 35000 Mana

  What?! Noooo!

  Winxa immediately looked worried. “What’s wrong?” she asked in a panic.

  This Aerie Roc is too expensive. I can’t afford it even with the reduction—

  Sandra stopped her thoughts as she considered a potential way around that for a moment; after doing some mental calculations, as well as looking at what AP she had available, the Dungeon Core hovered back and forth over her decision. On the one hand, she was planning on expanding her Area of Influence, so that she could begin to see a bigger picture of what was happening around her concerning the other Dungeon Cores, which would take 50 of her remaining 82 AP to accomplish.

  On the other hand, she really needed to contact the leadership of the other races to help with the defense of their own people, and to do that, she needed a Dungeon Monster that could fulfill the role of transportation – and be fast about it; while she didn’t necessarily know if the Aerie Roc would be the one to do that, none of the other prospects she had looked promising. However, to even have a chance to see if it would or not, she’d have to purchase another reduction in the Mana Cost of her Dungeon Monsters – which would require 60 AP. It would also benefit her in the long run by being able to expand her different Absorption Nets faster, so that was a definite plus. She was almost positive – based on past increases to her Maximum Mana – that even if she upgraded her Core Size once, she still wouldn’t be able to create an Aerie Roc with her current 30% reduction.

  So, she was weighing the benefits of both; either selection would ultimately benefit the people of all the lands as well as Sandra’s own needs, but only one of her selections would help her out immediately. The Dungeon Core hesitated all of two seconds before she went ahead and purchased the next Advancement to the Mana Cost of Dungeon Monsters reduction, making everything cost 45% less Mana, and saw that the next – and last available in that particular option – Advancement would be 120 AP.

  Another, stronger wrench inside of her Core occurred as the new Advancement took effect, and when she pulled up her Advancement Creation Options again, she was relieved to see that the Aerie Roc was now only 19,250 Mana to create – which was just barely possible with her maximum Mana. Fortunately, all of her time spent playing around with the Animated Slab had gained her a large part of that through absorption in and outside of her dungeon, so she didn’t have long to wait.

  She moved her new Slab into the final defensive room in her dungeon, where her last Iron-plated Behemoth was located with some other stand-in constructs. After the Elite Elves had attacked and killed most of the older Behemoths, because of her Advanced Classification she couldn’t replace them with the new Steel-plated Behemoths she had access to; even now, with the additional reduction in Mana Cost, Sandra couldn’t create them because they still cost 22,000 – which would be achievable during her next Core Size upgrade, at least.

  Another Tiny Automaton brought out from her treasury the very last Small Dragon Glass Sliver she had available and placed it down below her Core just as before. As she impatiently waited for her Mana to tick up to what she needed to create the new Monster, Sandra noticed that Winxa had left at some point. Looking around and not seeing the dungeon Fairy, she mentally shrugged; she must’ve left for something important.

  Finally, after just under 10 minutes of additional waiting, she had enough Mana to finally create the Aerie Roc. A portal opened up in her Home room and Winxa came back ju
st as Sandra was completing the infusion of Mana inside of the Shard.

  “I figured I’d try to find out more about this Aerie Roc for you before you spent any more of your Advancement—wait!” Winxa shouted, as she saw the Monster Seed take the Mana and start to form the Aerie Roc. “There’s something you need to know about—” She didn’t finish her warning, though, as a gigantic shape started to coalesce beneath her Core. The Dungeon Fairy abruptly shot up towards the ceiling as if to avoid something – and for good reason.

  To say the Aerie Roc was large was a vast understatement. Her Home room – which she had previously expanded to 100 feet tall and twice that wide – suddenly felt cramped as the Roc materialized beneath her. In fact, the back of the massive bird (and what a bird it was) nearly touched her Core which floated in the middle of the room, 50 feet of the floor. It took her a moment to really take in exactly what she was seeing, and when she finally saw it she mentally smiled, figurative ear to figurative ear.

  The Aerie Roc was a dirty brown-colored hawk-like bird that was at least 100 feet long from beak to tail feathers as well as 30 feet wide, and its eyes were level with her Core when it turned around towards her. Two large feet were on the end of thin, feather-down-covered legs, though their talons didn’t look particularly powerful or deadly. In fact, they appeared almost blunted, as if they had been filed down for some reason; still, being picked up by the Roc and squeezed by those enormous feet probably wouldn’t feel all that great.