The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) by Jonathan Brooks (e ink epub reader .txt) 📕

total: Holy, Air, and Fire – were embedded in his palms, slowly feeding energy back into the poor Dwarf; Sandra had suggested just an Elemental Orb bond at first, but it turned out that it was the lack of energy that had knocked the King out in the first place.  Even with it regenerating now, he still wasn’t waking up.

“What was he right about?” Gerold asked.

The Master Blacksmith pressed his fingers on his temples, which just exaggerated his exhausted face, sighing as he did so.  “Without another set of armor, it’s quite possible that he won’t ever wake up.  As I’m sure you know, the connection between yourself and your armor is a strong one, and when it is destroyed, it can be difficult to recover from.  You, as much as it pains me to say it, were lucky to have only been in possession of it for a few months; King Mynag, on the other hand, had possessed his for centuries.  That connection between a Shieldman and their armor only grows stronger as time goes on, and for something like that to be broken as abruptly as his was, the damage to the mind can be difficult to recover from.”

Something in what he said resonated within Sandra. For some reason, she couldn’t help but compare the Core shard inside of her mind with what he described King Mynag was suffering from: a sense of loss for something that had been with him for a long, long, time.  This sense of loss could describe the mind of most Dungeon Cores, as they mourned the loss of their former selves, of course; it might also explain the shard’s loss of its Core “self” when it was destroyed.  Now it was just a remnant of what it used to be, driven only by instincts to control a Core again, but not knowing exactly what was going on or why it wasn’t supposed to destroy any other Cores in the process.

Sandra felt like she was in as complete control as was possible, but the possibility was always there that the shard could reemerge and try to take over again.  For all that she wanted to get rid of it, she didn’t think there was any way to eliminate the shard entirely.  But perhaps there was a way to live with it, to co-exist in harmony.  There has to be a way.

“So, what now?  I know you agreed to come here with me…are you ready to see what she can do?” Gerold asked the Master Blacksmith, which pulled Sandra back to the conversation.  There was silence in response for a few moments, which allowed her to look out and see the progress of the new Shieldmen.  They weren’t quite to the battles yet, but they were close; her constructs she had sent out before had already started to make a difference against the Golems, but it was going to be an uphill battle to eliminate and contain what had already broken free.

What was worse, the small, “cheaply” made Dust Golems were spreading out far and wide, gaining even more Mana as they ventured around.  There weren’t nearly enough to compare to her own gathering of Mana, but there were at least 200 or more that were out of range of the Shieldmen and constructs, and more were emerging every minute from both Golem dungeon entrances.  They have learned and adapted.  I have to stop them now, or this will spiral out of control. Hopefully, with the influx of Shieldmen and the additional reinforcements (which she was still adding to even with everything else going on), they could get it under control.

“I-I think I’m ready,” Master Jespin said abruptly, exhaling deeply before continuing.  “Sandra?  That is your name, correct?”

Yes it is.  Do you have something you’d like to share with me?

He nodded slowly, before taking something out of his vest pocket; she couldn’t see what it was, however, because he kept his hand closed tightly over it.  “It isn’t known to many, but we are running out of the ability to create our Shieldman armor and weapons.  Gerry, here, asked me to come teach you how the secret process is done, in return for your assistance in protecting our Kingdom and clearing out the ravaging hordes of monsters.”

That is true, though my role is more one of support; I can provide many things to make it much easier, but the actual work is going to need to be done by your people.  Just like it needs to be done by the Elves, the Gnomes, and the Orcs.

The Master nodded again.  “Understandable.  Honestly, we wouldn’t have it any other way.”  He paused, before opening up his hand.  “Tell me, have you heard of mithril?”

Chapter 38

New Monster Seed and Origination Material found!

Mithril

While Mithril can be directly used as a Monster Seed, it can also be used as a material for use in the dungeon or other purposes.

You now have access to:

Tiny Mithril Cube

Origination Raw Material Cost: 40000

Origination Mana Cost: 35000

Monster Min. Mana: 35000

Monster Max. Mana: 50000

The Mithril orb she absorbed when the Master Blacksmith placed it on the ground was impressive-looking all by itself, and it was definitely nothing that she had actually seen before.  She had heard of it as a mythical metal that existed in the world, but either no one actually had access to it in Muriel, or it hadn’t been there in so long that it was more of a fable than anything.  Not one Human she had talked to knew what it did, other than it being extremely powerful; how it was powerful, though, was anyone’s guess.

Now that she had access to it, she wasn’t even sure what it was good for.  All she could tell for now was that it might be good for some of her more-expensive constructs as a Monster Seed, but what she was