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

But Jahn wasn’t really a dungeon core anymore. He was a construction core, I supposed. Judging him for his dungeon abilities would be like judging a bard on his swordplay.

We followed a tunnel that led to a chamber that had once served as Jahn’s core room. Jahn met us on the pedestal in the center.

“This should be fine,” I said. “Nobody will be able to see.”

“I’m not entirely happy with this, Beno. It seems dishonest,” said Jahn.

“It’s very dishonest, yes. Sometimes you have to be.”

“Can’t people just be nice and tell the truth?”

“The truth is rarely nice, my friend. Better to hear lies, sometimes. Would you prefer that we give this up and let the No-Cores grow? Recruit more people, gain more power? Keep singing their mean songs about you? Because most of it is aimed at you, Jahn. I hear rumors that in secret, they say that I am the greatest dungeon core ever forged.”

“They won’t do anything to me. Not when it comes down to it. They’d be mad to, when I have built half their town!”

“Jahn, it’s the fact that you have done such a good job that makes them hate you even more! They don’t like being beholden to a core, and they sure as all the underworlds don’t like having to thank you for it. There will come a time when Yondersun has enough buildings, enough people, and enough supplies. After that, they won’t need you. If we reach that point and we haven’t done anything about the No-Cores’ influence, you’ll be wishing we had a time mage who could send us back to this very moment.”

“Time mages don’t exist.”

“No, but foresight does, and we have the gift of it right now.”

Jahn sighed. “Fine, but nobody better find out.”

“They won’t. Let’s try something simple to start with, and we’ll see if this even works. Pick a house. It doesn’t matter which, as long as it is one that you created.”

“You just want me to cast my core vision onto the wall?”

“Yes, just there.”

Jahn glowed like a lamp that had just been fed with fresh mana. Light streamed from him and was cast onto the wall. This rectangle of light formed colors and gradually a picture, showing us the inside of a house. It was a modest abode, with little in the way of decoration or furniture. A Yondersun resident was sitting at a table and eating a pie with his hands.

“You cores always amaze me,” said Gulliver. “And I’ve seen lots of amazing things. How are you doing this, Jahn?”

Knowing that, with the utmost kindness, it was a mistake to ask Jahn to explain even the simplest of core things, I jumped in. “It’s easy. You’ve already seen that I can use my core vision to look at any chamber in my dungeon, yes? And that I can cast this vision out for others to see?”

“But that is a dungeon. I don’t see how it applies…”

“Just as the chambers in my dungeon belong to me, so do the houses in Yondersun belong to Jahn. You see, Jahn uses essence to create the structures, so technically, they are his. Not in a legal sense, I suppose. But the principle of core vision is the same. Jahn created the houses, so he can use his core vision to look inside them.”

“Ah,” said Gulliver, wearing the expression of a man starting into a dawning truth. “You’re going to spy on folks.”

“That’s right, Gulliver. Jahn is going to help us get an intimate look at these No-Cores and their lives. Whatever secrets they have, whatever grubby little things they try to hide, we’ll know about it.”

The light faded from the wall, and the gnome and his pie disappeared. “I really didn’t like doing that, Beno,” said Jahn. “It seemed insincere.”

“We’re looking into people’s homes. Of course it’s insincere. Do you suppose if we knocked on their door and asked if we can come in and spy on them so we can learn their secrets, that they’d let us?”

“I don’t see why we must do this, Beno!”

“I told you. The No-Cores will get rid of us both as soon as they have the influence.”

“No. I mean, why can’t we reason with them?”

“Because to them, reason is just a fancy word for ‘something I should ignore.’ They don’t particularly care about us, Jahn. They don’t hate us personally. They just need something to hate, and we’re an easy target given that we’re so obviously different from them. If we weren’t here and the town was full of scribes, I have no doubt they’d become the No-Scribes and want to string Gulliver up by his cravat.”

“What good will this do, anyway? All this spying?”

“Because, my all-too-good-hearted friend, watch anyone for long enough, and you’ll discover a secret. Secrets, by their very nature, are things that people don’t wish to share. It will be relatively easy to persuade a No-Core to shove a cork in their mouth and burn their anti-core signs once we have leverage over them. Do that with enough of them, and the movement will dwindle into nothing, without us killing a single Yondersun resident.”

“I suppose if it means we don’t have to kill anyone…”

“That’s the spirit! Now, I’ll create a few kobolds who will come and watch the visions you cast and write down anything worth using as blackmail or to tar the No-Cores reputations. Oh, this has been an excellent morning! It’s been a pleasure seeing you, Jahn.”

I had lit the fuse that would result in the complete obliteration of the No-Core movement. Now, I needed to find a way to deal with Dullbright. The problem was that without Reginal or Galatee’s support, I didn’t see how. It wasn’t as