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

still be fogged from battle, but I am certain dungeon cores aren’t used to grow flower gardens.”

“You’ve obviously never met Core Jahn,” said Gulliver.

“Give the duke what he wants,” said a voice. It was Galatee, now standing up, with Reginal’s body by her feet. “Give him what he wants, if it will bring Reginal back.”

“I sense that your core is still unconvinced,” said Smit. He unbuttoned his collar and brought out a key attached to a string around his neck. “Perhaps I can persuade him.”

“What’s that?”

“This,” said Smit, “Is the key to a cellar in Fort Smitten where you will find all kinds of…monsters and creatures. They may be of interest to a being such as you. Now, do we have a deal?”

I looked at Galatee. Though she didn’t go as far as to say it, her eyes were pleading with me. The sight was unnerving, coming from her.

“We have a deal,” I said.

The duke drank from one of his own dying soldiers and then used his powers on Reginal.

The goblin chief coughed and tipped his head back. His eyes opened, and for a second, they were pure white. Then he focused on Galatee, who was holding his head again. Blinking, he focused on Galatee. “Galatee…what’s going on?” He leaped to his feet. “The duke is coming! We must…”

He stopped talking when he saw the carpet of corpses on Jahn’s row.

“I have given him back the last few hours of his life,” said Smit. “Reversed the effects of time on him, and him alone. I have not, however, healed his heart. That was a problem brewing long before you even heard my name, by the looks of it. As it seems to be a keg waiting to explode, I would advise you to take him somewhere more…calming.”

“Thank you, Smit,” I said. “And now you will bring back all of my creatures, and all of the Yondersun townsfolk, one by one.”

“One by one? You do not understand, core. I can’t do that. I am not a worker of miracles…I have limits. I cannot feed again today, and tomorrow would be too late to bring any of them back. The fallen are fallen, the dead are dead. Sometimes time is unmovable.”

“Then there’s nothing else you can do with your powers?”

“I did what we agreed. Now, I will need a horse capable of a full day’s riding. As I said, I will return to my fort and-”

“Kill him,” I said.

“Excuse me?”

“Kainhelm? Kill the duke.”

“We…we made a deal.”

“You brought all of this upon yourself, duke. All of the dead townsfolk. The people who fell on your side. My dead dungeon mates. Do you really think that reversing just a single consequence of your actions is enough for you to keep your life? Nobody asked for you to take interest in Yondersun, Smit. We were living here alone, not bothering anyone. You brought this upon yourself.”

“You are no better than me. How many people have you killed?”

“Lots. But I’m on the winning side.”

“You have no honor, core. No honor!”

“I never pretended otherwise.”

Days later, we had healed those who could be healed and buried those who needed to be buried. The battle of Jahn’s Row had leveled me up four times, increasing my total essence to 4010. This made my work much easier, and meant I could easily expand my alchemy chamber to five times its size.

After my kobolds helped clear the duke’s soldiers’ corpses from the street, my alchemy chamber was stacked to the rafters with cadavers. A new team of kobolds worked around the clock to dissolve the bodies and store their essence dust while stripping them of their weapons and armor.

We held remembrance services in the dungeon for our fallen mates, and I was touched to see them attended by many of Yondersun’s surviving residents. In turn, my dungeon mates and I attended the mass funeral for fallen Yondersun warriors. Galatee stood at the back, crying, with Reginal next to her and Devry sitting in his wheelchair.

I finally had time to visit Razensen on the third day after the battle. The bogan, with a giant bandage on his shoulder, was sitting by the dungeon pool. His belongings were piled in a chest next to him. He was picking up rocks the size of a man’s head and tossing them into the pool and watching the ripples spread out.

“How are you feeling?” I said.

“Sore, but I have had worse injuries. Once you almost die, few wounds can compare to it.”

“Some people would say that death is easier, depending on how swift it is. I don’t remember my own death.”

“Ah, well. At least I can tell my people one thing about my travels; I met a person who has been to the ice and has returned.”

“You can tell them that you avenged your parents,” I said.

“Aye, yes. That too.”

“You don’t sound as happy as I thought you would be. Was revenge not as fulfilling as you expected?”

“Beno,” said Razensen, “It was delicious. Worth every second. I only wish it hadn’t been over so quickly, is all. I would like to thank you for your role in helping me get it.”

“You might thank the dead duke for that. He brought your brother here, after all.”

“You gave me a cool place to stay. A place away from that dreaded sun. You treated me as one of your dungeon mates in the time I spent here, and you introduced me to my friend Kainhelm, to boot. You will always have a friend in the bogan people, Beno.”

“You’re going home?”

“Nazenfyord is dead. My mother and father have gone to the ice. It is expected of me to rule, and I do not wish to spend a second more in this pit of sun-heated hell. No offense, Beno.”

I laughed.