Dungeon Core Academy: Books 1-7 (A LitRPG Series) by Alex Oakchest (book suggestions txt) 📕

Staring at the view of my dungeon using my core vision, I saw three little dots moving through a tunnel as the fire beetles Death, Fight, and Kill headed to their positions.

Way across the dungeon, five hero dots were walking through a different tunnel at a slower pace, with each one in a single file. It was to protect them from traps, no doubt, but the joke was on them; there were no traps in there, and their slow pace worked in my favor.

Now, with Gary and the beetles (which was also the name Gary used when spending his downtime making the horrific sounds he described as music) heading into the poison chamber, and Shadow tricking the heroes deeper into my labyrinth, I could only hope I was prepared enough.

I had to be, didn’t I?

I stared at the top-down view of my dungeon as if it was a chessboard, trying to work out every single way I could be tricked, flanked, forced into a blunder.

“Brecht,” I said, casting my core voice out to my bard. “I want you to go get your tambourine ready.”

“It is strapped to me, Dark Lord. I am never without my drum.”

“You keep a great big drum strapped to you all the time? Even when you aren’t playing it?”

“It’s good for my calf muscles. Helps them get stronger.”

“It’s terrible for your posture; you’ll give yourself a hunchback. You’ll be lurching around like a troll butler before long. Stop doing it.”

“Oh, now he cares about our welfare,” said a voice in the background. I didn’t know if it was Karson or Tarius, so I took a guess.

“Tarius, I’ll deal with you later.”

“It’s Karson.”

“Shut it. Brecht, I need you to be ready. You too, Rusty.”

“Yip yip,” said Rusty the shaman. “Ready to serve. Give me a time, a place, and a person to kill.”

“Kiss-ass,” muttered a voice nearby.

Rusty was new to the dungeon, but I liked him already. He was always asking me how he could be useful, always eager to find ways to use his shaman spells so that he could level up. Unfortunately, without heroes there were few targets to cast them on, so he was stuck at level 5.

Maybe I could bring him into action today. Not too early, because as a shaman his defense was weak and if I sent him straight into the fray, he’d just get stabbed full of holes. But if I was careful, he might get an opportunity.

“Rusty has the right attitude. You could all learn a thing or two from his desire to commit murder,” I said and turned my attention back to my plan.

I had given Rusty the shaman class when I created him. Sending a shaman and a bard into battle meant that I could pose a magical threat, and Gary covered the physical combat side of things. My biggest weakness was that bards and shamans weren’t battle mages, at least not in an attacking sense. They were better suited on the periphery, acting as support for other fighters.

I quickly checked both their spell sheets to see what we could use.

Brecht

Race: Kobold

Class: Bard Lvl 16

Songs

Psalm of Persuasion

[Gentle caress a person’s mind with your ballad, winning them around to a viewpoint of your choice.]

Fable of Fear

[Cast fear in an opponent’s mind. Dependent on bard and opponent’s levels.]

Lullaby of Lethargy 

[Exhausts enemies to vary degrees, dependent on bard’s level and enemy’s level]

Chorus of Courage

[Removes fear from nearby friendly creatures, and gives improvement to combat strength and endurance while reducing accuracy.]

Rusty

Race: Kobold

Class: Shaman Lvl 5

Spells

 Shamanistic Spirit Animal Possession

[The Shaman becomes possessed by his spirit animal, gaining its strengths and weaknesses for a limited time. The toughness of the creature possessing the shaman depends on the shaman’s level, with the creature leveling alongside its host. While shaman is possessed, he cannot use his other spells.]

Shabby Shamanic Totem

The rookie shaman can cast a simple totem within an area of 30x30 feet around him. Totems have a magical effect either to work against enemies or to help allies when they enter the totem’s range.

Totems available:

-Fire sentry: Shoots fireballs at enemies who enter totem’s range, until totem mana runs out [dependent on shaman level]

- Remedy: Casts healing light at nearby injured allies

Not a bad box of tricks, but any sufficiently bloodthirsty war general would look on my magic users and make a tutting sound. Brecht, as a bard, was weaker than tissue paper thrown into a volcano, so he couldn’t be risked too close to combat. His role was to ply his trade before a battle, filling my creatures with courage. I could only use him to sing his songs of fear and lethargy if I was sure I could protect him from enemy attacks.

Rusty, similarly, wasn’t someone you’d ask to lead a battle charge. He was just a level 5 shaman so only knew the possession and totem spells, though these were a little more threatening than Brecht’s. His possession ability would let him turn into an animal, gaining its strengths and weaknesses. Knowing my luck, Rusty’s spirit animal would be a snail.

His totems were much more interesting. These were little sticks that he’d cast into the ground. They were usually decorated with feathers and bones, because shamans love that sort of thing. They acted as magical sentries; when an enemy got close, the totems cast whatever spell was in them.

It gave me something to work with at least.

“Brecht, meet up with Gary, fight, Death, and Kill before they get to the poison chamber. Sing them a song of courage. I want them feeling so brave they’d walk up to a dragon and slap its bum if I asked them to.”

CHAPTER 14

Sider and the Four