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

by Jonathan Brooks

  Luckily, Sandra didn’t have to worry about either of those things. For one, creating such high temperatures was quite easy for her to achieve, and her constructs were a bit more resistant to the high heats associated with the production. It still got hot enough that even her Steelclad Ape Warrior would melt if it stayed near the furnace for too long, but she also had the Dragon Glass gloves she had previously crafted to help with that. Working the liquid glass wouldn’t be too much problem, either, as the ambient heat given off by the material itself was barely noticeable to her construct. Of course, if her Ape were to stick its hand into the hot glass that probably wouldn’t be good, but she wasn’t planning on touching it directly.

  What she did need to start with were some molds in which to place the hot glass so that it could cool and form into different shapes. That was the most basic way to craft certain items, which was what she was going to start with before she moved onto blowing, rolling, and shaping it to create more delicate pieces, including what could be theoretically called works of art. Having never actually worked with glass before, however, she thought it was best to begin with something much easier, which was why she started to design a few molds made out of clay, which she then fired in the kiln to harden them into what she needed.

  So, while the sand melted into its liquid glass form – which was going to take at least an hour, possibly more – she brought in an Unstable Shapeshifter with its more delicate fingers and used clay to form different molds. The first was a simple square box 1 foot on each side and 2 inches deep that she could use to make a pane of glass, the easiest and most basic form of glass she could create.

  Next, using some simple stone tools to carve it out, she created a mold that she could use for a simple four-sided cup; all she had to do was carve out smooth channels where the glass would flow in a block of clay, leaving the middle of it alone (creating the center of the cup) and leaving space for the bottom to form. Last, she created a two-sided mold that was carved out in the shape of a ridged plate, which she sealed up, leaving just enough space on the top to pour the liquid glass into. There were a few other basic shapes that she experimented with, including a large solid sphere, some star-shaped designs that were easy enough to carve out, and finally a block of solid glass that she thought might look neat.

  Now, Sandra could’ve just made some of the more basic molds out of stone, used them to pour the glass into, and then absorbed the stone to reveal the final product; she didn’t want to do that, however, because the simple act of crafting the molds by hand was what she was she was looking for. There were many things that she had found lately that she could actually craft using her Mundane Object Creation skill, and she had taken advantage of that liberally when she had been in a rush or a time crunch, but nothing beat making it herself with her own hands – even if they were hands borrowed from one of her Dungeon Monsters.

  She fired the molds in the kiln, which eliminated the moisture within the clay, hardened the forms, and got them ready to use for the glass. Normally, the process of firing them could take days of lower heat to prevent them from exploding from the release of so much moisture, but Sandra had used her Mana to remove most of the moisture before they ever went inside the kiln. Was it cheating? Yes, but she also didn’t want to wait days to use the molds and it didn’t really affect the crafting process she was enjoying.

  After nearly two hours of intense heat inside of the furnace, the entire quantity of Quartz Sand inside of the bowl had melted into a bright-red slurry of molten glass. She immediately turned off the heat with her Ape and then reached inside the now-cool furnace – it was amazing how the Dragon Glass that lined the furnace didn’t retain heat – to grab the bowl. Then, bringing it to the molds that had finished drying earlier and were set out for the process, she proceeded to have her Ape pour in the hot liquid glass into the clay molds, quickly moving from one to another before the glass cooled too much. Unfortunately, she didn’t have quite enough to fill them all, so a few of the more obscure shapes were left out of the filling process, but that was okay – she could always make more.

  It took nearly an hour for the liquid sand to fully cool and harden into full-fledged glass, and while they were cooling Sandra started another batch. As soon as the first one finished cooling completely, which just so happened to be the cup she had crafted inside the mold, she was rewarded by a notification.

  New Origination Material found!

  Clear Glass

  While Clear Glass cannot be directly used as a Monster Seed, it can be used as a material for use in the dungeon or other purposes.

  Nice! She was excited to be able to use glass as a material now, though she would still need to heat it up in order to work with it. The benefit of that was that once glass was created, it took much less time to heat up enough to be reworked because it had already gone through its transformative process from Quartz Sand to Clear Glass. Instead of taking almost 2 hours for the Sand to melt and transform into glass, it only took a few minutes for the finished glass to melt to the same point in the furnace.

  With that benefit, the crafting that had previously taken her hours per batch of glass now took only 10 minutes or so. She was able to finish off the rest of the molds fairly quickly and was pleased at the results, but she also saw where they could be improved in the future with some smoother planes and edges. Some delicate filing helped to finish off her handiwork, and the glass was some of the clearest she had ever seen. There were a few places where it was a bit wavy because of the way the liquid glass was poured and cooled, but for the most part they were…satisfactory.

  From there, she then turned to shaping the glass manually, using a long hollow stone rod she created and stuck into the bowl of molten glass inside the furnace – after turning down the heat a little to start the solidifying process. When the heat was lowered, the glass turned from what was a fluid-like liquid that was easy to pour to more of a gel-like substance that was still malleable but unlikely to run off of the stone rod she briefly stuck inside the bowl. At that point, she scooped out a small amount like it was extremely thick honey and quickly brought it out of the furnace, where it hardened just enough to stay on the end of the rod.

  Her Ape swiftly held it out for her Shapeshifter in the form of Echo, who cautiously used some other stone tools to shape the glass on the end of the rod while the construct turned it slowly. Then, going to the opposite end of the hollow rod, she blew air inside with significant pressure, which helped to expand the cooling glass on the other side like a bubble. A few more applications with some more tools was all it took to finish, and with deft fingers she used her tools to snip off the end.

  When it cooled enough to hold in her hand, which didn’t take long because the glass was rather thin, Sandra held a perfectly round, Clear Glass sphere in her hand. It looked just like a 3-inch-wide soap bubble that appeared ready to pop at any time, it was so delicate-appearing. Look what I have made! Other than some tricky enchantments that she had created, this glass sphere was the most delicate of her crafts she had made, and though it didn’t really serve any purpose other than looking pretty, she was inordinately proud of it.

  “That’s amazing, Sandra. Who would have thought a Dungeon Core could make something as delicate as that?” Winxa came to visit after Sandra said she wanted to show her something not so dangerous this time.

  I know, it makes me so excited to be able to make things like this that don’t have any purpose other than looking beautiful. I can only take so much crafting of things designed to kill things before it starts to weigh on me.

  After that, she created dozens of other glass objects using the same method over the next few hours, the enjoyment she was receiving from the crafting experience not diminishing in the least. Dawn broke over the world and there was no real change in the status of the four dungeons, so Sandra kept crafting.

  Mid-morning saw Kelerim up and about, however, so she stopped the majority of her glasswork and worked with him for a while. First, she tau
ght him a few techniques that helped to refine his crafting of Steel swords, which he picked up quickly and demonstrated progress in just a few hours. Before she forgot, she also explained how to work with Titanium and lent him the aid of an Ape and another crafted pair of Dragon Glass gloves for the process; the higher melting temperatures of the metal made it a little more dangerous for him to be around the forge otherwise.

  “Thank you, Sandra; I feel like I’ve learned more in the last few days of just practicing and seeing how you create your own weapons than I would have over decades of Blacksmithing in Orcrim.”

  * It’s no problem – I find that I enjoy teaching, especially with such an adept student. I’m looking forward to teaching you more when I can, but for now you can practice with— *

  As seemed usual, while she was trying to talk to someone the other Cores decided to interfere and cut off her thoughts.

  Chapter 30

  Fortunately, the interruption was only 2 of the Dungeon Cores sending out an army of their Dungeon Monsters at the same time. The Goblin and Golem-Classification Cores were still preternaturally quiet and unmoving, but the Beast and Slime-Classification dungeons practically exploded with their Monsters out of their secondary entrances. The Elves were prepared for the eventuality, though after waiting for so long without knowing exactly when it was coming they were slow to respond. It was a good thing that Sandra was paying attention with a score of Shears floating above each entrance in case something was spotted.

  * Chryla! They’re breaking out of the larger entrance! *

  “Which one?” the young Ranger asked, immediately snatching up her bow from where she had left it next to her. She was currently watching the main entrance to the Slime-based dungeon and nothing was coming from there, so she was unaware of everything happening.

  * Both. You may need to reinforce the others near you, as it appears as though they are all concentrating on the secondary entrance. I’ll leave that for you to decide, however, but I’m passing the word to everyone. *

  It didn’t take long for Sandra to alert everyone not directly watching each entrance, and she left the decision on whether or not they wanted to abandon their posts to reinforce to them. Whether or not there was a strategy to attack them from behind when they moved from the main entrance was unknown, and she didn’t want to be the one to make that mistake – as shallow as that sounded. The Dungeon Core had already made those kinds of errors when she was fighting the Undead forces, but that had been with just her constructs and other Dungeon Monsters; this was involving people now that were defending their own homes, and she was there more as support rather than leadership.

  She also let the Dwarven Shieldmen know what was happening just as a precaution, because it was a possibility that they would have a breakout sometime soon as well. Though, when Sandra thought about it, she realized that the way both Elven Cores had decided to attack at the same time was a bit odd. Their attack wasn’t just close to being at the same time, but at the exact same time; she got alerts from both groups of Shears together, which meant that they initiated their charge out of the dungeon with uncanny precision.

  Winxa, are you absolutely sure that these other Cores can’t communicate?

  “They shouldn’t be able to. Why? What’s happening?”

  In a quick as explanation as she could, Sandra explained the timing of the simultaneous attacks even as she watched the Elves respond to each. Initially, the first wave of Dungeon Monsters was eradicated quickly; the Beast Core sent out charging boars that were cut down by bolts fired by the 10 Elves that were set up in wait for them, but then came a second wave of large wolves, Bearlings, and hunting cats that rushed out with the sole purpose of destroying the Elves in their hiding places 100 feet out from the entrance. The 40 Roaring Blademasters stationed there went to work, swooping in as directed by one of the Elves to surround and completely slice apart 3 of the Bearlings, losing two of their number in the process.

  Half of the other Beasts were peppered with more bolts, though many of them took at least 3 or 4 expertly shot projectiles to go down. The Wyvines with the Rangers were called in to work then, effortlessly gliding forward to attack the other half of the wave from their invisible and muffled approach, taking down the rest with minimal injuries, especially when they were backed up by their Elven partners.

  But the waves just kept coming, with the third wave consisting of Crocatiles accompanied by something that appeared to be an Elk, though with a set of razor-sharp antlers and hooves that dripped some sort of viscous green substance. Explosions rocked the secondary entrance as explosive bolts slammed into the Crocatiles, doing enormous damage, but the Elk beasts were a different problem. They practically bounded ahead, changing directions unexpectedly and the Rangers were finding them difficult to target to shoot. Half of the Wyvines went after them because they were fast enough to catch the quick Beasts, but the Elk were deadlier than Sandra expected.

  Antlers like swords tore into three of the Wyvines when the Elk were tackled by the larger Shadow Beasts, tearing through their scaled hide with ease. Sandra’s Dungeon Monsters didn’t go without a fight and managed to slice their own way into the vital areas of the Elk, killing them even as they died from the horrific wounds they sustained. A fourth Wyvine managed to be struck by a hoof, which was apparently coated with something extremely poisonous, because the Wyvine staggered back to the Elven line before collapsing in a heap and dissolving into a Monster Seed moments later.

  The Blademasters helped to finish off the rest of the Crocatiles, only to be caught up in the next wave of Beasts that spawned forth from the dungeon. Massive elephant-like beasts with six bone-like tusks thundered out and started to smack their facial weapons into the Blademasters, significantly damaging their tusks in the process; it was apparently a worthy tradeoff, because every construct they hit was knocked out of the air, bent in half with most of their blades destroyed. Seconds after they hit the ground, they too disappeared. Only a dozen managed to get away before they were finished off, where they hovered above the battle waiting for more orders.

  The explosive-tipped bolts slammed into the Elephant Beasts, but only 2 of the massive pachyderms had enough damage done to their lower limbs to stop moving; their heads and bodies seemed to have a layer of hard bone protecting them like armor, and though the explosions seemed to shatter the bone well enough in a small area, unless more bolts were sent through the exact spot, then the Beasts were just inconvenienced and not damaged enough to stop them. Even with some applications of elemental energy which the Rangers were using without reservation, they couldn’t be stopped completely, and they were getting entirely too close to the Ranger line for comfort.

  After the Elephant Beasts were 10-foot-tall monstrosities that appeared to be a mix between a bear and an Ape. It had brown fur and a head like a bear, while the rest of it reminded Sandra of one of her Apes – though much larger and made of flesh and blood. They loped over to the Ranger group just as fast as her own Apes, too, which brought them within range of the Elves within seconds.

  * Uh…I would run. Get on and I’ll try to hold them back as long as I can! *

  Sandra spoke to the Rangers who were already slowly backing up and firing as they retreated, managing to kill another of the Elephants and one of the Ape-bears, but unless they ran they were going to be in trouble. Quickly, the Dungeon Core took control of the 6 remaining Wyvines and had them run next to the now-retreating Elves, who immediately jumped on their backs, more than half having to double up. She had them take off running in the direction of the village while she had the surviving dozen Blademasters descend and get into the faces of the Elephants and the Ape-bears trying to distract them, but that lasted for all of two seconds as they were either batted away or ignored completely.

  One of the Wyvines was lagging behind because one of the Rangers tripped on his way to climbing aboard the Shadow Beast. The other Ranger dropped his bow in order to grasp his fellow Elf and pull him up, but it was already too
late. As soon as they started to move, one of the Ape-bears jumped from where it was running and landed on the tail of the Wyvine, trapping it in place.

  The Rangers were flung off the front of the Shadow Beast at the sudden stop, and the Wyvine immediately turned around and started to attack – but it was overmatched. A giant fist that was nearly the size of the Shadow Beast’s head slammed down on the Wyvine’s neck and Sandra could hear the hollow internal popping of its spine snapping in multiple places all the way from up in the trees where her Shears were watching the ongoing battle.

  By the time that the two Rangers picked themselves up from where they had been flung, they were instantly impaled from behind by the tusks of one of the elephants, who then crashed into a tree, splintering the tree’s trunk with the impact. It seemed as though the impressively large Beast couldn’t turn very well once it started moving, though that fact didn’t help the Elves impaled on its tusks.

  There was only some weak struggling from the two Rangers, though they were positioned in a way that it was impossible for them to get off of the bone-like spike thrust through their chests. Moments later, they went limp and Sandra felt a surge of Mana funnel into her Core, though she barely acknowledged it. Seeing the two Rangers – whose names were Grehre and Lowan – killed before her eyes was shocking, not in the least because she had tried to do everything she could to prevent their deaths. Or at least, that was what she told herself.

  The Elves battling the Slimes in the other forest weren’t in a full-on rout quite yet, but they were getting close. Slimes that were increasing in size, speed, and therefore danger were coming in waves, and it was all that they could do to stem the tide. The problem there was that they seemed to be no end of them, the Rangers were running out of bolts, the four Titanium Anacondas that had been helping out were reduced to just a single heavily damaged one, and half of their Wyvines had been consumed by the Slimes as they protected the Elves’ flanks.