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

“Then you have come here seeking death, you furry snowman?”

Razensen laughed. “I am not most creatures. Ever been to the south, Kainhelm?”

“I haven’t left this plague pit in centuries, yeti.”

“Then you won’t know about the rocks that we got there. Ones way beyond the ice, miles and miles as the snowbear bounds. Now, don’t ask me where the rocks came from, because I have no clue. That doesn’t much matter. The important part is that these rocks have corrupted everything around them. Anything living dies when it spends too long near them. Only, we’ve always lived near them. Don’t get me wrong; we’re far enough away that it takes days to reach them, if we were ever snow-brained enough to do it. But close enough that we’re affected by them. Over the years, generation upon generation, we built resistance.”

“Resistance?”

“There’s not much that can harm me, Kainhelm. Certainly not whatever energy you give off.”

“Well done. I am most pleased for you. Yes, I am.”

“What I’m saying is, you don’t need any of that red paste around me. And you don’t need to be afraid to pay me a visit on the level below, if you ever want to talk. I might be gone from time to time, because I have things I need to do outside. But when I’m in this dungeon, you can always stop by my pool.”

“An intriguing offer,” said Kainhelm. “A blessing on your ancestors, then, for bestowing you with this protection.”

“I suppose it is a blessing. It’ll be good to get some company, Kainhelm.”

“Yes, pox it. I suppose it will. Thank you, Razensen.”

“Tell me, what promise were you talking about?”

“The poxing core made a deal with me,” said Kainhelm. “I used to serve a stupid plaguing core who lived here. Beno ridded me of him, and persuaded me to join his dungeon. He promised to let me out onto the surface from time to time. To give me company after spending centuries almost alone.”

“And he hasn’t held up to that?”

“Oh, it isn’t all his plaguing fault. The bloody townsfolk are so precious, pox them. Their chiefs have ordered my destruction if I am ever within town boundaries.”

“There’s a lot of wasteland above,” said Razensen. “Trust me on that. Shouldn’t be too hard to go somewhere remote and explore a little.”

“Should not be too hard at all,” greed Kainhelm. “And yet, here I am.”

“Well, I have a deal with the stone myself. I don’t like the sounds of my terms, if you’re anything to go by.”

“The core is not a liar. He merely has a dungeon to think about, and not just poxing old Kainhelm.”

“Even so. If the stone thinks he can forget parts of our deal, he’s going to get a shock. I’ll give him a chance, but he better not think about breaking his word.”

“You were spying on everyone?” said Gulliver.

“Calm down,” I told him. “Spying implies trickery or obtaining information that is not mine. I made this dungeon, Gull, and I created almost every creature in it.”

“You made it in the same way a duke can say he produced all the crops this harvest.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your miners dug the tunnels and excavated the chambers. You might assign the work to them, but they are the ones who do it.”

“You’re getting awfully worked up about this.”

“Spend years as a scribe for various dukes, lords, and other noble arses, and you’d get worked up, too. All I’m saying, Beno, is remember to recognize hard work. Nothing can destroy morale more than having credit for your labor stolen from you. As the former apprentice of a scribe who used to cross out my name from my early works and add his own, you can trust me on that.”

“A fair point. As it happens, dungeon morale was the very reason I was using my core vision.”

“Not to check they weren’t planning an insurrection of some kind?”

I saw no reason to lie. Gulliver and I were alone in my core chamber. “That was part of it, yes. I forgave the scene in the remembrance chamber because I understood their motivations. That doesn’t mean I’ll stand for it again. When the dog growls at you once, you train it. If its growls get louder and it starts to bite, you have to step up your discipline.”

“What did you learn from your espionage?”

“That a few simple actions might go a long way.”

“What about Shadow? She was their spokesperson, Beno. I don’t pretend to know about leadership matters at all, but it seems to me that all your problems would go away if she did.”

“Kill one of my own dungeon mates? Are you mad?”

“Hells no, Beno, not that. I was thinking about banishment.”

“I need her talents. I can’t begin to tell you the number of times her stealth has proven useful against heroes, and her canines are like little demons when it comes to battle. I have it in mind to get armor for them, at some point.”

“Then perhaps not banishment,” said Gulliver. “You could send her on a task that gets her away from the dungeon for a while. Perhaps a journey of a few weeks or so, until you have murdered Cael and sailed the good ship Beno’s Dungeon into calmer waters.”

“As I said, I need her. Especially against Cael. No, I have something else in mind.”

“Then what?”

“You’ll see presently. Ah, here they are!”

Shadow, her dogs, Tomlin, and Wylie walked into the core room. “Dark Lord wanted to see Wylie?”

“Yes. Wylie, I am promoting you to Dungeon Enforcer.”

“Enforcer. Dark Lord?”

“Henceforth, you are not responsible just for the discipline of your miners, but for the whole dungeon. I don’t want you to change a thing