The Crafter's Dungeon: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (literature books to read TXT) 📕

it toward the ceiling, all the while thinking about turning it to hard stone.  Against her not-so-confident expectations, it actually worked!

A circle of dull grey stone approximately an inch wide and half that deep appeared on the dirt ceiling, directly above her Dungeon Core.  Sandra thought it might have been larger if she had more Mana, because as soon as she felt the dirt change to stone, her 2 units of Mana were siphoned off and infused into stone.

So, apparently, I need both Raw Materials and Mana to create the stone; it actually makes sense, though, because when I make Monster Seeds it takes both as well – though the seeds are certainly smaller.

Because Copper was a more valuable resource as opposed to stone, it made sense that she could make a larger amount of stone when compared the same amount of material and Mana used in the creation of a Copper Orb.  Despite the better conversion ratio, it still meant that she was going to have to race to get a proper overhead shield of stone in place before the Ants arrived.

Sandra spent the next hour absorbing material from the farther sections of her cave, converting some to Mana, and then using the 2 Mana/minute amount she was gaining from her roaming constructs to extend he stone shield.  She could’ve made more of her dungeon monsters earlier – before she “Sized-up” – but what she had constructed previously was more than enough to siphon the ambient Mana in her cave.  Now, with it expanding bit-by-bit, she wished she had made at least a couple more to take advantage of the additional space.

Regrets weren’t going to help her now, and neither was making any additional constructs; she spent all her accumulated Mana on creating a large stone dome above her head, which was costly but not terribly so.  At any other time, Sandra thought she could turn her entire cave – and further areas she excavated – to stone within a day or less, but with the advancement of the Territory Ants, she didn’t have that kind of time.

Why are they heading toward me in the first place? she wondered for the hundredth time while she was creating the overhead stone shield.  The only explanation she could come up with – especially when she started looking at the Ant colony itself – was the fact that her Area of Influence had extended up and past the area where the Territory Ant Queen was busy pushing out eggs.  Maybe they can sense that I can “see” them now and they felt threatened by it.

Regardless of the reason, the fact that they were only minutes away from breaching her dungeon cave wall was worrisome.  Sandra now had a stone dome that extended approximately 12 feet out from directly above her Core in every direction, which would help to prevent the Ants from dropping straight down onto her.  Another few hours would encapsulate the entire room, but at the moment that was the best she could do.

The Territory Ants reached her stone shield and immediately turned in four different directions, with lines of workers quickly digging and removing the dirt from their explorations.  Sandra was half-hoping that they would give up after they couldn’t find an easy access point, but they continued on their excavations with no indication of being frustrated.  As a result, within five minutes of first reaching her stone dome, four tunnels were dug by the industrious Ants in four places at the edge of her protection.

Although her dome was curved slightly according to the shape of her ceiling, they still ended far above the floor; Sandra thought that the insects would just drop in and hit the floor.  Unfortunately, she forgot that these Ants were adept at navigating through underground environs.

Seriously?  That’s not fair.  As soon as they broke through, the Territory Ants started to crawl along the underside of the dome, as if crawling and hanging off stone upside down was an everyday occurrence.  Sandra immediately sent her Animated Shears towards the tenacious insects converging on the center of the stone ceiling.  She knew that if she didn’t hurry, they would reach the spot where they could easily drop down and destroy her.

In just a few seconds, dozens of Ants were already making their way across the underside of the stone dome, but she had a dozen Animated Shears there to prevent them from getting any closer.  Fortunately, despite their ability to stick upside down to her dome, Sandra was pleased to see that they weren’t gripping on with much force.  With each slice of her Shears, another Ant was knocked off, landing on the floor of the cave with a heavy impact – but failing to do any lasting damage.

Unlike a typical dungeon core, Sandra wasn’t particularly interested in killing any beasts or sentient races for their Mana.  An exception to that, however, were insects; she didn’t really care for them and felt no compunction in eliminating them.  Still, she didn’t want to have to – she’d rather find some way to block them from entering her dungeon in the first place.

Warning!

While dungeon monsters can still be created from monster seeds, any physical changes to your dungeon while there are invaders inside is prohibited.  Please wait until all invaders have been eliminated either through death or voluntary removal.

Sandra had tried to plug up the tunnels’ exits with more stone, but she received a notification shutting that idea down.  It would’ve only been a temporary measure until she could fully seal off her cave, but now there wasn’t a likelihood of that happening at all.

The Ants that landed unhurt on the floor quickly righted themselves and skittered toward her Dungeon Core.  Although she was floating four feet above, she felt a spike of fear go through her when the first dozen Ants stopped directly underneath her.  She couldn’t tell exactly what they