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

many friends in town,” she said. “Starting feuds with trading allies will likely plummet your popularity further. I would say that right now, Beno, you rank somewhere between chronic sunburn and a plague in terms of how much people like having you around.”

“You can’t, and shouldn’t, be friends with everyone.”

“Neither should you make an enemy of everyone.”

“Is that what I’m doing?”

“Come on, Beno. You aren’t stupid, nor do you keep yourself ignorant of what happens in Yondersun. You know there is a movement growing.”

“Ah,” I said. “The No-Cores.”

“A troublesome bunch of big mouths who flap their gums just to feel the breeze on their teeth.”

“Then why let them gather? You’re the chief. One of them, anyway. You need Core Jahn to build your town, and however much you deny it, you rely on me and my dungeon as defense. Why let a movement opposing Jahn and I grow?”

“Because no power is absolute. In fact, most power is but a figment. An illusion of light and smoke dispersed if one were to try and touch it. Even as chief, I need the support of the people. If they chose to oust me, if the hundreds of Yondersunians decided to gather as one and physically remove me from town, do you think I could stop them?”

“That’s why you have soldiers.”

“Even they are people. Power is just a story that we tell each other. I tell the townsfolk I am their chief, and they tell themselves it is true. But when an influential enough person successfully changes the narrative, power is gone.”

I thought about the scene in the remembrance room. When an influential enough person successfully changes the narrative, power is gone. Not the most reassuring thought to have.

“What does that have to do with a bunch of morons who hold up anti-core signs and sing songs?”

“Some of those morons are valuable to us. Take Ten-Toes, for instance. He’s the best mason in town, and he’s training five apprentices. Without him, our stonework, such as we need, is shoddy.”

“So you couldn’t get rid of them even if you tried.”

“Nor could I afford to lose you and Jahn completely, as you point out. I must balance both sides of the scales without breaking them entirely.”

“I can’t help but think this is another threat.”

“A friendly warning this time, Beno. When a fire is burning, don’t throw wood onto it. Let it burn out, even if you must watch the flames tower above you for a while. Because burn out it will, believe me. Just make sure you don’t get yourself completely engulfed by it in the meantime.”

CHAPTER 10

The morning sun had no mercy for Gulliver and me after we left the dungeon and headed toward Yondersun. A mosquito bounced into me in midair and then hovered, confused about the giant gem floating above the ground. Gulliver walked with his usual strut, though I could tell from the sweat beading on his forehead that he was far from comfortable.

“Why not wear something more suitable?” I said. “You’ve visited us here before, Gulliver. It’s not like you don’t know how hot it is. Why do you always dress like you’re going to a ball?”

“It costs nothing to take care of yourself.”

“Only twenty pounds in bodyweight sweated out from your pores.”

Gulliver shrugged. “I told you about the merchant caravan that I joined as an apprentice, hoping to record the story of the travelers of the desert. Two hundred and six days in the blistering heat under an unforgiving sun. Men with lips more cracked than a mirror after my dear grandmother looks into it. After that, a wasteland like this is a refreshing change.”

“That doesn’t mean you should punish yourself to look good.”

“It’s no punishment, Beno. While some might grumble at the slightest discomfort, I certainly don’t. Besides, I grew up the sixth of eight brothers. If you include my parents and my father’s half-sister, that was eleven of us sharing a three-bedroom hovel in the beggar’s district in Idoford. I grew up wearing hand-me-downs that had been handed down to one too many hands, from brother to brother, until mine were just shreds. Now that I’m a master scribe I don’t need to beg and borrow, so I don’t.”

“All well and good, but I’m sure you can be practical while staying in fashion.”

“I’ll bear that in mind when my senses are dulled enough that I take style advice from someone who spends his life under the dirt.”

“Gulliver, you’re a friend, so let me tell you this; I have seen centuries-old narkleers with a more contemporary sense of fashion.”

“If you’re comparing Kainhelm and his skin cape to my…forget it, you bloody floating trinket,” said Gull, barely able to contain his grin. “I’m glad we’re going to see Core Jahn; he’s so much more refined than you. But what do we need from him?”

“Though I suspect the No-Cores are mainly opposed to me and my dungeon, they can’t pretend to hate one core and not the other. With Dullbright posturing and with Reginal and Galatee looming over me, I find myself needing an ally or two. Core Jahn needs the No-Cores dealt with just as much as I do.”

“Jahn isn’t much of a fighter, Beno. That’s why he uses his essence powers to build houses and wells, and not in a dungeon.”

“I don’t need that kind of help from him. You’ll see.”

We found Core Jahn on the far side of Yondersun, floating upon a pedestal in the middle of a hubbub of construction. Around him were the wooden skeletons of a housing estate still under construction, their frames built but lacking roofs, windows, or any of the finishings needed before people could move into them. Laborers scurried back and forth, working under Jahn’s direction and completing the menial tasks that were most likely a waste of