The smallest of the Monster Seeds – which were hundreds of Tiny and Small Copper Orbs – Sandra used to create more constructs to add to her Nets outside. When those were all used up, she absorbed the rest and continued to add to her ever-expanding collection of Shears and Tarantulas filling the sky and roaming around the wastelands. By the time she was done using all of that Mana up, she did a quick estimate of how many she had out above her dungeon. From what she added now and what she had added before she upgraded her Core Size, the numbers were impressive.
23,000 Reinforced Animated Shears
12,000 Clockwork Tarantulas
Watching her Mana absorption tick up over a minute, she received right around 590 Mana; she knew that 10 of that was coming from her dungeon, which meant that everything aboveground (not just her nets, but all of the other constructs or Dungeon Monsters running around) were bringing in 580 a minute – which was nearly unfathomable compared to what she was used to. That meant that, in total, every hour she was receiving 35,400; every day, she was receiving just under 850,000 Mana! As much as that was a significant amount…she wasn’t sure if it was going to be enough.
Sandra wasn’t sure if it would ever be enough; all she could do was keep adding to her constant Mana absorption and hope. Therefore, as everyone was still asleep, Sandra got started on a couple of things she had planned during her upgrade – all while working on her plundering operation and adding to her Nets with all of the incoming mana.
Chapter 19
The first thing Sandra did was use a few of her Steelclad Apes to gather up some of the already-crafted weapons inside of her Display Room near her lower Forge. Her first goal during the night would be to get ready to deliver supplies to the Orcs and from there the Elves, as they were going to need all the help they could get. She knew from when Kelerim’s half-brother Razochek had invaded that Orcs preferred to use larger bladed weapons like swords and considered knives or smaller weapons as beneath them. They tended to like doing as much damage as possible, and using a small blade just didn’t cut it for them.
Therefore, she gathered up nearly all of her well-made Steel swords she had crafted soon after she had gotten the hang of Blacksmithing with Apes, and brought them down to her Home room. In total, she only had 15 that she considered to be of a superior quality; there were some other examples of swords that were shorter or not as well made that she kept as a sign of the progress she had made during their crafting, but she kept those in her Display Room. She was going to have to do some more crafting to boost up those numbers, because she didn’t want to be short when the first Warband took advantage of the deal she was offering. At least, she hoped there were some Warbands out there that would be interested in the deal.
There were technically three forges inside of her dungeon; one in her Forge room near her Home room, Kelerim’s forge, and the one inside of her workshop near the surface. Kelerim was up at the moment for some reason and lying awake on his bed staring at the stone ceiling, so she decided to enlist his help while she worked alternately between the other two forges.
* Hey there, Kelerim. Sorry if I’ve been neglecting you lately, but as you know it’s been a bit hectic. Is there something bothering you? *
Sandra’s sudden voice in his head startled the Blacksmith, but Sandra was used to surprising most of those she communicated with by now; other than sending a construct to get their attention first, there was no real way to hint that she was going to speak to them.
“No…Yes…I don’t know.” He sat up and let his legs hang over the edge of the bed as he put his head in his hands. “My visit to that Elven village was…odd, and Echo’s behavior around me is equally odd. Do you know what’s going on with her?”
Sandra knew exactly what was going on, but it wasn’t her place to tell.
* No idea; you’ll have to ask her about it when she gets back from her travels. In the meantime, do you want to help me make some weapons for your people? *
He shook his head, though not in denial of her request. “I just don’t know what’s going on with her, or those people in the village,” he said, before he huffed. “Anyway, I can’t sleep, so I might as well help.” Within minutes, Kelerim was up and at the forge, already heating up a large bar of Steel; she didn’t have to describe what was needed, as he had lots of practice creating Iron swords back in Grongbak – though he had vastly improved his technique from his previous stay inside the dungeon. It wasn’t nearly masterwork, but it was of far better quality than anything the Orcs were likely to see, and would also last a whole heck of a lot longer.
Using 6 Apes, Sandra did her own crafting. It required creating two more Iron anvils per forge, but soon enough she had three constructs per forge working on more Steel swords. It took some creative timing to alternate the actual crafting, as she would control one of the Apes while she shaped what she needed with different Blacksmithing tools, while the others were heating up their own bars of metal. After about a half hour, she was in a good rhythm and essentially working on 6 swords at once; most of those she made were Steel, but she also made a few Titanium swords for the Warband leaders. She thought it would incentivize them to take her mercenary deal if there was something special in it for those in charge of the Warbands, and Titanium swords were the best alternative she could find.
Theoretically, she could make all of the swords out of Titanium, but it both cost more Mana to produce the metal and was harder to work with than Steel; that, and she didn’t have time to teach Kelerim how to work with it quite yet, though she had plans to do so in the future. Therefore, Steel seemed like the best alternative and would be a hundred times better for the Orcs to wield than what they were currently using.
As for the mercenaries that were going to be helping Sandra and the other races out, they were getting some better weapons. She didn’t want them to die, so the Dungeon Core was going to take care of them.
Armor was next on the list because the Orcs tended to use relatively little, relying on their warrior prowess rather than relying on any particular protection. She doubted they would completely cover up like the Dwarves did, or even the Elven Rangers in their soft leather armor that protected them well enough striding through the trees; armor like that would be restrictive, and the Orcish Warbands (at least from what she had observed) relied on manipulating their internal strength and speed via their elemental energy. As of now, they wore the most basic “leather” armor over their waist and torso, which was as poorly made as their weapons. What they needed was something made with higher-quality materials, as well as something that would help with exterior penetration.
She was stumped at first on how to go about that, until she remembered some chainmail pieces she’d learned how to craft back when she was still Human. They were lighter weight than full plate, though they were heavier than just leather; while the Orcs were strong, she thought that the largest reason they didn’t want to wear any type of metal on their armor (besides the lack of material) was that it would slow them down with its bulkiness and weight. So while they might submit to wearing chainmail, she had another thought along the same line of lightweight protection, but had something completely different in mind.
First, she crafted from her basic leather two chestpieces of nearly identical size, with one being just slightly smaller. She had to estimate how large it needed to be, and it might not fit every member of a Warband, but she was going to put some simple buckles that would allow it to be tightened along the sides. Regardless, it was already looking better than what she had seen them wearing before – and sturdier, as well. She was going to make it even more protective, though, with the introduction of a hidden strength.
Sandra created a thin sheet of Steel, which was thin enough that it could bend with just a little effort. Then, she created an equally thin sheet of basic Cotton cloth of the same size and laid it on top of the Steel; after that, she created a sheet of Titanium similar to the first two and placed that on top of the Steel and cotton cloth. Then was ano
ther Cotton cloth, then Steel, then Cotton, then Titanium and so on until she had 25 layers stacked on top of each other. Even with that many layers, the thickness of the stack was only an eighth of an inch – which was probably the thickest she wanted to go.
She took the stack and placed it on the inside of the larger chestpiece, before placing the second, smaller chestpiece on the inside. Then, using her Mana, she was able to seal all of the edges together so that it trapped the layered stack of metal and cotton inside the front side of the armor. It was a little difficult to judge how much heavier it was, but she didn’t think it was terribly noticeable; it didn’t look all that great, but she could make it look better once she tested it out.
Using one of the steel swords that she just crafted, she placed her experiment against the wall and stabbed it lightly with the tip of the weapon. She wasn’t surprised to see that it easily penetrated the leather, but it was swiftly stopped by the layered plate below; she could see that the sword point penetrated through the first Steel plate, but was stopped by the other sheet of Titanium underneath the cotton. A second experiment with a moderately forceful thrust of the sword showed that the sword penetrated through a few more layers, but the cotton was acting as a cushioning agent; she was originally thinking that it might help with impacts – which she was now sure it would – but was surprised that it was helping with penetration as well.
A third strike with all of the effort Sandra’s Ape could muster finally slid through all but the very last layer, which was impressive; she was sure that if she practiced (which she was happy enough to admit that she had no skill in actually using a sword) she might be able to completely penetrate the entire stacked chestpiece of metal and cloth, but what she had would certainly do the trick. It wasn’t going to protect the Orcs from all attacks, but neither would their armor be little better than paper like it was now.
The best part about what she had created was the flexibility of the armor; while it wouldn’t give the Orcs the same sort of maneuverability as simple leather, the stack she had placed inside the chestpiece was more flexible than if she had placed a simple plate of Steel or Titanium inside. That meant that the Orcs wouldn’t lose too much in terms of being able to move quickly and bend in most of the ways that mattered, and they would gain a whole lot more protection in the process.
To complete her design, she also added another thinner stack on the back side of the armor, to prevent most light damage from behind. In addition, even thinner sheets of Titanium were added to the shoulders, where they were bent in a way that conformed to the shape of the chestpiece itself. As much as she wanted to add even more, she also didn’t want to add too much or it would start to get heavy; if it were too heavy, it was likely that the Orcs would be unwilling to wear it. She’d have to see how it worked out with the first Warband to test them out and make any changes to the design to see what might work better. They might even be willing to wear something heavier if it means better protection, but I’ll let them decide that.
Again, for her mercenaries, she had some thoughts about ways to really outfit them to make them even more effective.
By the time she had crafted and finished 54 swords (and Kelerim had magnificently finished 6 on his own), put together 25 reinforced chest armor pieces for the Orcs, and expanded her Nets above her dungeon by an astonishing 3,500 constructs total (giving her over 930,000 Mana per day), dawn was breaking over the horizon. Checking around her Area of Influence, there were multiple Orcs waking up in the nearby village, Chryla and the Rangers were already stirring, and Delarthe and the other Shieldmen were waking up.
* Delarthe! My upgrade didn’t last as long as I thought it was, so you can return anytime you like tonight. Though, it appears as though you were safe enough in Nurboldar for the night— *
She really had to keep her mouth shut, because as soon as she mentioned that they were safe in the village, she felt the Goblin-Classification Core expand its Area of Influence – which now included the entire Dwarven village. The Earth-based Golem-Classification Dungeon Core was still the same, but she had no doubt that it would finish its upgrade sometime soon as well.
* Never mind; one of the Cores just expanded as well, and now you’re well within their Area of Influence. If there is anything left in that village that you need, I suggest you get it now – the Goblins will be coming for it as soon as they see that they can reach it. *
As usual, her abrupt conversation briefly startled the Shieldmen, but they quickly recovered and got ready for another day of culling.
“Thanks, Sandra. How in the Creator’s name are we supposed to stop them from growing so much?” Delarthe asked the question with a shake of his head and a heavy, defeated sigh.
* Unfortunately, there isn’t much that we can do other than keep the number of Dungeon Monsters down. Each Core is receiving more than enough Mana every single day to upgrade, especially if they don’t spend any of it on making more Monsters. Since not creating any more Monsters goes against their very nature, we just have to get to the point where we can wipe out everything that emerges from their dungeon entrances.
* Granted, although doing that will slow them down considerably, it won’t ultimately stop them; the only way to prevent their rapid growth is for the other new Cores around the wastelands to reach a certain Core Size. I have some ideas on how we can speed up that process, but I want to make sure we get a handle on what we’re already dealing with before they break through to the surface. *
Sandra could see it from his perspective – they were fighting a losing battle with no end in sight. Normally, the Shieldmen (or the Warbands or Rangers or Warmasters) maintained an equilibrium with the local dungeons, but their recent rapid growth was stopping that progress.
“As much as I don’t like to hear that, I guess that’s the best we can hope for,” Delarthe said as he stretched towards the sun, working the kinks out of his back after sleeping in his armor. “Are we getting more help soon?”
* I’m hoping that Gerold comes back soon with some good news, but for the moment I’m going to be creating more constructs for your use. Eventually you may have some reinforcements from another source, but I can’t guarantee that quite yet. *
She hadn’t really informed either the Elven Rangers or the Dwarves that they might be joined by some Orcish mercenaries yet; until it actually happened, she didn’t want to get their hopes up. There was some bad blood between the races that she couldn’t do anything about, but she was also counting on the current crisis to put those things to rest…for at least a little while. That, and bribes; those tended to ease commerce, and she was negotiating and gambling as hard as she ever did with the different races as she did as a merchant. When in doubt and the money was flowing, she and her father had found that bribes and special considerations were usually the way to go; they never did anything illegal, but sometimes gaining access to certain areas to do their business needed a little…finagling.
In addition to those outside waking up, and despite not actually seeing the sun starting to lighten up the sky outside, the Dwarven villagers were waking up and getting started on the day. Sandra had set up a cycle of activating the Natural traps that started growing everything inside of the growing rooms if they were planted the day before, and it seemed as though the Dwarves had gotten it ready. Instead of equal amounts of Wheat, Barley, Hops, and Potatoes, there was significantly more Wheat and Potatoes.
* Glencha, why the change? *
The Dwarven villager jumped momentarily, but as she was looking over the newly grown plantings, she knew exactly what Sandra was talking about.
“We have plenty of barley and hops for the brewing we want to do; the rest will just go to waste if we grow too much. We can always use more wheat for flour, which will keep quite well for long periods of time, especially as there doesn’t seem to be any type of insect penetration down here – weevils are the worst,” Glencha responded, looking disgusted at the thought of the small insects that tended to ruin flour if l
eft unattended for too long. Luckily, Sandra’s natural Mana infusing her entire dungeon prevented anything from entering from outside – insects included – unless they came through one of her entrances. Of course, some of them could’ve come in with the Dwarves, but there hadn’t been anything of note that Sandra had noticed.
“Then you had mentioned the possibility of needing more food to help with some others, so we’ve been baking bread and storing up potatoes for you to distribute. It’s the least we could do for you after you offered to take us in.”
* Thank you, Glencha. I was just going to give them a bunch of meat and possibly some fruit because that is all I really have access to, but bread and potatoes will go over well, I would think. *
“Now, though – we need to get to brewing and distilling if we’re going to be drinking in the next year. You said you could help with that?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
Indeed, Sandra was already thinking about that, but she needed to talk to some experts before she got started. She had a vague idea of what needed to be done, but since she hadn’t crafted alcohol before she was a bit lost. Apparently, Glencha and one other villager – Teving – were the ones to talk to.
“Brewing Ale correctly can take a lot of trial and error on a new set up; for instance, regulating temperatures for boiling or fermentation is important for proper alcohol production is key,” Teving – a burly male Dwarf who seemed really excited to get started brewing – started. “Then there are different mixtures that might work best for the size of the vessels you’re using in the process, which produce different flavors, and—”
The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) Page 21
