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

you neglecting your silly prophesy. There is bound to be a core out there, one who doesn’t happen to be me, who deserves to be destroyed. We can be quite a loathsome bunch.”

“Hmph. You might have a use for my powers, core? I’m not yours to use. If my powers were a sword, I’d shove it up your arse.”

“Why do you even want to complete the prophecy, anyway? From what you have told me, you were the star student in the Chosen One school. Your instructors loved you. Boring. You’ve left the school and you are growing your powers, so what does it matter to you what was written on a stone tablet you found in some stupid cave?”

“Because everyone gets their tablet. And I didn’t get…oh, forget it, core. Listen. Perhaps you’re right. We can be friends. Or at least, you can let me go, and I can use my powers for whatever core stuff you need them for.”

For the tiniest thread of a second, I believed her, and I thought I had just cracked her resistance and earned a valuable asset for my dungeon.

But then I looked into the girl’s eyes and just like before, I saw nothing staring back. The girl was soulless. As a being devoid of a soul, I knew what that looked like. She seemed to have few emotions except for those concerning her friend. Words and promises would mean absolutely nothing to her.

No, it was clear that not even the most fragile alliance could be made with her, because I could trust her even less than I could trust a mercenary like Eric the barbarian. At least Eric followed gold. It was a pity because her powers were immense, but I would never be able to trust her.

Damn it. I would have to be cautious about this. Forget about the potential rewards her powers could bring and focus on dungeon safety.

Or did I? Maybe there was another way to use her powers. Of course there was!

“Have you ever heard of alchemy, Anna?”

“Of course I have, you moron.”

I laughed. “Fine. What about a dungeon alchemy chamber? It’s where we dissolve the corpses of heroes. The chamber devours their flesh and blood and strips their bodies back to their essence. To essence dust, in fact, which is the sum of their powers. When my creatures ingest it, they earn a modicum of the dead hero’s abilities.”

“What are you saying?”

“That on reflection, your corpse is worth more to me than your cooperation.”

She struggled against her chains. “What?”

“Ah. I have finally got your attention. I have found a much better use for you and your friend. And to think, if you’d just agreed to a genuine alliance, instead of lying, you might have robbed me of this inspiration.”

“I was being genuine. I said we could work together. I wasn’t plotting nothing! I don’t even know what a plot is! I don’t know how to make one!”

“Save it, you whiny-voiced wretch.”

I floated toward the door, only to get a shock when I saw a man standing there, staring at me.

A bald man wearing a robe that once flowed to the ground but was now cut at the waist, and desert-colored trousers that he’d tucked into dust-stained boots.

“Hello, Beno,” he said.

“Overseer Bolton.”

“It’s been a while, no?”

CHAPTER 16

As we made our way to the meeting chambers, Overseer Bolton stopped and chatted with every single kobold and monster he passed, and I found myself getting more and more annoyed with how much Wylie and everyone loved him.

Though it frustrated me, I didn’t exactly blame them, and I understood why they liked him so much. To the little creatures, Bolton was warmth personified. Always ready for a chat, always asking what they were working on and giving them pointers. As much as I hated to compare him to a father, the comparison was apt. He was like a grandfather doting on grandchildren, yet forever disappointed in me, his metaphorical son.

Maybe I needed to stop getting annoyed. The fact was that Bolton was a kindly man. Severe in his duties, yet not unfair in his methods. Besides, he had been a great mentor to me in the Dungeon Core Academy. Seeing him now, I felt a flicker of remorse about our relationship souring.

Maybe it was me. Maybe I needed to be nice to him.

“You’re looking well for someone in the twilight years of their third resurrection,” I said. “Do you still buy alchemist skin paste to keep Father Time at bay?”

“Twilight? The dead of night, more like. My bones ache when I sneeze, Beno. Ah, well. The academy has been kind to me lately, so I won’t complain. I have been spending a lot of time in a dungeon in the east, where one of our newly-graduated cores is showing great promise. The weather there is glorious, the food divine, and the women are surprisingly fond of older gentlemen.”

“And yet you grace us with your presence. Did you come straight here, or have you been on a wasteland tour?”

“Where I go and don’t go is none of your concern, lad.”

I knew, of course, that Bolton had been to Hogsfeate to meet with Mimic Dullbright who he thought was the real Dullbright, and that he had to content himself with talking to Gulliver. I knew he was seeking Namantep, the dungeon core hidden on the second level of my dungeon.

“You have made a lot of changes since I was here last. I may take a tour when our business is done,” he said.

“I think you have made an error in phrasing, Bolton. You said I may take a tour, but you meant, may I?”

“Ah, yes. I forget how frustrating cores can be when they free themselves from academy oversight.” He stared at me for a while, before his face took on