The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) by Jonathan Brooks (e book reading free txt) 📕

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 taught 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