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

For now, I needed to make sure my dungeon was adequately defended. Only with stronger foundations could I then think about making some moves of my own. This meant a whole afternoon and evening spent using all of my essence to create new monsters for my dungeon.

Razensen’s Unit

Monsters created:

- Kobold x 6

- Bone guy x4

- Shrub Bandit x4

Essence remaining: 50 / 1505

It was a risk, using all my essence like that. It meant I would have to wait for my essence vines to slowly replenish it. Tomlin had done an excellent job in cultivating them to peak performance, but even so, it would take at least a few days for all my essence to return. I hoped I wouldn’t have any cause to need to use any in the meantime.

My 14 new monsters were standing in the center of the arena. The kobolds lazed on the ground, the bone guys formed a group behind them, while the shrub bandits moved slowly across the room, inspecting their new terrain and sniffing it like dogs. The arena was filled with kobold squeaks, the rattle of bone guys skeletons, the gentle rustling of sentient shrubs scraping over the ground.

Razensen and I watched them. “This is what you give me, Stone?” he said. “An Ill-disciplined bunch of skeletons, plants, and weird little wolves?”

“You were a warrior back home, no?”

“I was killing before you were even a blink in creation’s eye.”

“Did you ever lead men?” I asked.

“Men? No. why should I want to do a stupid thing like that? But bogans? Yetz. I have led many. Some to glory, others to the ice. Such is battle.”

“Then as part of our deal, I thought you could have this unit of fine monsters under your command. The kobolds can be trained to use bows here in the arena, and when heroes come, they could be deployed…”

“Have you ever fought in a battle, stone?”

“I’ve killed plenty of heroes.”

“That isn’t the same. Playing Hide and Go Look in this labyrinth, trying only to stop greedy champions from stealing gold. That is not battle.”

“I studied plenty of battle tactics in the Dungeon Core Academy. We looked at all kinds of wars, battles, skirmishes. The famous ones, like Ferd Sinter against the Black Hands, and the not so well known ones.”

“You should have said you have read so many books! I bow to your battle knowledge, Stone! Snow, give me strength! Battle is not just words on a page. Battle is when a warrior could cut you down and move onto his next kill with nary a thought for the life he just ended. Mark me, when the scream of the first kill shrieks into the sky, books and learnings and even training leave your mind. Your brain is like an ice blizzard, and nothing will let you see through it until the last scream dies down.”

“You make it sound so delightful.”

Razensen’s three eyes turned from yellow to orange. “You joke?”

“That might be a nice speech to scare youngsters who just picked up their first sword, but it’ll take a lot more than horror stories to get to me. You’re an experienced fighter, and that is why I want you to lead these creatures for as long as you are part of the dungeon. But don’t presume that your battle experience buys you any kind of authority over me whilst you are in my labyrinth.”

The monster eyed me then, his eyes burning orange. I waited for them to switch to red.

But within seconds they paled, settling on a clover-yellow.

“Fine, Stone. I say all this not to belittle you, but for you to understand that I take this seriously, and I know how to lead. I have never led wolf creatures or walking bushes before, to be sure, but I can lead them. I would ask that you let me do so without presuming to give me advice.”

“Nothing would delight me more. Please, go ahead.”

I watched Razensen drill the new creatures for the rest of the night. He barked at them relentlessly. He rebuked when rebukes were needed, especially for the kobolds who were quick to descend into horseplay, but he stopped short of scaring them completely. By the end of the day, it was obvious how much they respected him.

“To your marks!” he boomed.

The bone guys gathered together at the front of the formation now, raising shields that I had procured them from my dead hero inventory store. Behind them were bow-wielding kobolds, flanked by shrub guys who not only would provide cover with their dense thickets, but could shoot poisoned thorns from their branches.

Even in so little time, Razensen had made them look almost competent. It would be interesting to see what he could do.

Glug, glug glub.

Gulliver filled his glass to the brim, so much so that even a millimeter more would make it spill. He leaned back in his chair and rested his legs and winkle pickers on the table.

“You have Jahn looking through folks’ windows for you,” he said, “And the big scary yeti is training up the beginnings of an army. Good, Beno, but it doesn’t seem enough. Dullbright will work his whole town into a frenzy until they’re baying for whatever your equivalent of blood is. Cael, meanwhile, is most likely getting stronger by the day, and when he’s ready to come for you, he won’t be alone.”

“You should have been a motivational speaker, Gull.”

“I just hope you haven’t stopped your defense preparations there,” he said.

“I didn’t have any essence left for more traps, but Wylie and the miners have made some adjustments for me.”

“New chambers?”

“Nothing that drastic. He used some of the stones we collected after excavating Razensen’s chamber and we’ve created ambush hills in a few of