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

Can two souls share a Dungeon Core?  This was the most important question she wanted to ask, because it was imperative to know if having this “soul remnant” in her mind was going to cause problems other than just trying to take over.

“Not…that I’m aware of.  The stresses of having two strong souls inside of a Core would eventually tear it apart from the inside.”  Winxa seemed to think about what she had said, before rushing to assure Sandra.  “But I think you’ll be alright, since the shard you absorbed wasn’t a full soul.  I can’t guarantee there won’t be any lasting harm other than what you’ve already experienced, but hopefully you’ll be fine?”  The questioning tone in the Fairy’s voice wasn’t very reassuring.

Thanks, Winxa.  That was what she feared.

Although it wasn’t confirmed, the knowledge that she might be torn apart by the partial rogue Core soul in her mind wasn’t something to be ignored.  By her estimation, there was really only one way to fix it.

Give the soul fragment someplace else to inhabit.

To begin to test her theory required an experiment.  Bringing her focus back up to the deserted Bearling lair, Sandra spent 400 Mana to bring forth 50 each of Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Spirit, Natural, Holy, and Nether elements for her test.  One by one, starting with non-opposing elements, she combined them together, eventually making a roiling maelstrom of all 8 colors, fighting against each other in a large ball of frightening Mana that felt like it was just on the cusp of exploding.  Luckily, the balance among the elements kept it from detonating while she held them in place, though she could feel the strain of trying to keep all the different Mana types from trying to break off from each other.

Before she condensed and solidified the collection of Mana, which she instinctively knew she could accomplish, she brought over her Ape she had stationed in the workshop, where it waited patiently for her instructions.  With a thought and a small amount of Mana, she created a very tiny sphere of Mithril in its hand; it was barely larger than a grain of sand, but based on the ratios between other materials and the soft metal, she figured it was more than enough.

Taking a figurative deep breath, Sandra steadied her concentration and started to condense the roiling mass of multi-elemental Mana floating in the middle of the room.  Using the icosahedron 20-sided shape – the same as her Elemental Generators – felt appropriate, so she pushed with all of her will to condense the powerful forces into a singular gem-like shape.  Just before she felt as if it would *click* into place, she did two things.

One, she ordered her Ape to toss the tiny orb of Mithril right into the middle of her Mana-based creation.  The construct tossed it perfectly, and as it passed through the condensed swirling mass, she did the second thing: Sandra projected an image of herself toward the Mana, or what she saw as herself in her mind – a “copy” of her self-actualization.  It wasn’t so much of a physical manifestation as it was a bundle of thoughts, but she could feel as if it had a presence, nonetheless.

As soon as the Mithril and her image copy was inside of the roiling Mana construct, she squeezed the Mana until it condensed fully into a solid state, encapsulating the Mithril inside. As if she were watching in slow motion, she saw the Mana *click* into a new form, just as an eruption of light blinded her so completely that she had to look away from the Bearling lair. Nothing, not even the Holy traps she had created in her dungeon had been that intense, and it took her a moment to recover.  What did I do?!

She didn’t feel anything throughout the rest of her dungeon, so she was fairly certain it didn’t explode; but it wasn’t until she ventured her viewpoint back up to the Bearling lair that she saw what she was hoping for.

Her construct had somehow reacted instinctively, and it was now delicately holding a shining beacon of multi-colored light.  After a few moments, the glare started to fade from blinding to a steady glow, and it was then that she was able to see the new creation for what it was: a 20-sided, radiating, crystal-like object that had swirling colors inside, reminding Sandra of her Shapeshifters in their natural form.

New Object found!

Resonating Prismatic Core

This Resonating Prismatic Core cannot be used as a Monster Seed nor as an Origination Material.

Warning!

If Resonating Prismatic Core is not used within 48 hours, severe damage to the connected soul will be imminent, up to and including complete destruction.

Uh, oh. 

“What now?”  Winxa asked, concerned.

Sandra didn’t answer right away, because she was mulling over what had happened.  She had intended to create something that would help to act as a home to the soul remnant in her mind.  In theory, it appeared as if it would work; but she had inadvertently created something that might end up hurting her – perhaps fatally.  Instead of just blowing up catastrophically like the Elemental Generators she had created, if she didn’t use this “Core” within 48 hours, it would damage her very soul – which was everything that made Sandra who she was.  Whether or not that would destroy her Core at the same time was unknown, but either way, it was bad.

The easy solution was to just absorb it, as she had experimented earlier by absorbing a Generator, just to make sure it was possible.  Only…when Sandra attempted to absorb the Resonating Prismatic Core in her construct’s hand, nothing happened.  It was almost as if it didn’t exist to her dungeon senses as something that could be