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

It made a certain amount of sense. Gulliver had spent his life as a scribe, traveling all over Xynnar to get material for his stories. He’d followed lords, dukes, mages, merchants. His travels had taken him to most parts of the land, and on the face of it he had a wanderer’s heart.

But Gull was my best friend, and I knew that he was looking to settle down. That was why I’d given him the job in Hogsfeate. For him to just leave without a word was just too strange. Even if he was sick of the job, he knew he could just tell me so.

“Just give me a second please, Morphant.”

Using my core voice, I reached out to Gulliver now, quietly saying his name. I waited a few seconds and got no answer. I tried again.

“Gulliver?”

Nothing.

A sharp pang of fear struck my core.

Was he not answering because he was…dead? Had something happened?

It wasn’t proper of a core to think like this. There was a reason the academy forgers worked so hard to strip us of our human feelings. And though they couldn’t rid us of them entirely, it seemed, I still had to get a better handle on myself. I had to think like a core, and not a miserable human.

Logically, just because Gulliver wasn’t answering it didn’t mean he was dead. He might merely be asleep. Or he’d drunk himself into a stupor. Perhaps he’d gotten into a fight in a tavern and had been knocked out. Though he was a scribe, Gull had a way of starting feuds when enjoying himself.

Whatever the answer, I wasn’t going to just stay here and wait around, not while my best friend might be in trouble.

“I’m going to visit Hogsfeate,” I said. “There’s something wrong with this, Morphant. I’ll need you to prepare the town guards for my arrival. The last time I visited Hogsfeate, the guards treated me like a criminal. I don’t expect a party in my honor, but make sure I’m not stopped at the gates.”

“Gulliver and I have been laboring to improve the reputation of cores amongst the Hogsfeate townsfolk, Dark Lord. I am sure you will enjoy the reception you get.”

Our wagon was an old one, with a wonky wheel, a paint job several decades beyond replacing, and paneling half-chewed by woodworm. The horses pulling it weren’t much better, either. I had used gold from selling surplus iron ores to buy it, considering it an investment in dungeon affairs. If I was going to visit Hogsfeate more often, then it made sense to avoid having to pay extortionate rates on trader wagons just to get here. As shoddy as the wagon itself was, I had few complaints about the driver.

“Take us just over there, Klok. Park the wagon by the Hogsfeate walls, next to where the traders have left theirs. See? Then you can take the horses to the stables. Tip the stable boy to make sure they are treated extra well.”

“Yes, Dark Lord!” said the kobold. Rather than having to lash the reins like most drivers or even whip the horses as some did, Klok merely held the reins up and spoke softly, and the beasts responded accordingly.

I had to admit, giving him this responsibility had been a gamble. Klok had found mining so tough that he had fallen asleep on the job, and it didn’t seem prudent to hand him control of a wagon and horses. But the little kobold had repaid me by showing a desire and skill for the role. Even as he guided us to the Hogsfeate town walls, I received a core notification.

Klok’s [Driver] proficiency has increased to 3!

Klok’s [Animal Bond] proficiency has increased to 4!

As Klok steered the wagon toward where the rest were parked, I turned to the kobold sitting on my left, who was wearing a crown of bones on his head, and who carried a staff with a skull on the end of it.

“How are you feeling, Rusty?” I said. “Your first time in a town. Well, you have been to Yondersun, I suppose. But your first real trip away from the dungeon.”

“Yip!” he answered. “If there is a mage, may I visit him?”

I thought about Mage Hardere, and his proclivity for wearing nothing under his robe, and his even worse proclivity for demanding gold and making shady deals. “Not a good idea. The mage in Hogsfeate is not one you should learn from.”

“Oh.”

I looked at the poor bugger, who was clearly disappointed. Demons below, why did I allow his wretched, miserable face to get to me? I must have been the kindest dungeon core in existence!

And the most modest!

“There may be a magic shop selling tomes and such. Perhaps you can visit it. I need to visit a book shop that Gull told me about. Bumbauld’s Tomes, or something like that.”

There was something familiar about the guards waiting at the town gates. Something I recognized about their lazy postures and the way their stomachs bulged against their leathers. They clearly hadn’t noticed my arrival at the guard gate, and they were busy leering over a book where someone had sketched a naked barbarian woman holding a sword provocatively.

“Len and Ben?” I said.

They jumped. Ben flung the book, sending it sailing out of the guard gate. It landed on the adjoining street, spread open at a page of a half-naked sorceress. An old woman carrying a basket of dead fish glanced at the book, the guards, and walked away, muttering something about the morals of today’s men.

Len, the taller of the two, put his hands on his hips. “Why, if it ain’t the core! Been a while since we last saw you here, fella.”

“Is that because you were demoted to other duties?” I said, knowing