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

“Seems to me that you have two problems. One, there’s the problem of…well…you.”

“I love having a best friend.”

Gulliver laughed. “You know what I mean. They see you as a core. A lump of rock who summons monsters and lives in a dungeon. The dinner party was supposed to solve that, but things went tits up. The idea behind the party is unchanged: we need to boost your public image.”

“And the second problem?”

“Riston.”

Anger flashed through my core. It was gone quicker than lightning, but the after-rumble spread through me. What was it they said about lightning? Count the seconds between the flash and the sound of thunder, and you’d know how far away the storm was. When I thought about Riston, it was seconds away.

“That guy,” I said. “He shows up out of the blue with his stupidly immaculate beard and annoying smile. Two months later, he says he wants to be considered in the chief election! I don’t know how he became so popular.”

“He’s leading the polls now, Beno.”

“We need to learn from him. I’ve lived under Yondersun for ages. I’ve risked my non-existent neck for them. I’ve saved their lives. Riston shows up, says a few nice words, and they want to marry him. What’s he doing that we aren’t?”

“Good question,” said Gulliver.

“Do you think you can follow him for a while? See how he spends his days, who he meets, what kind of things he does to get so popular?”

Gulliver sucked his cheeks. “Hmm. Such a task will inevitably lead me to the Scorched Scorpion. I hope you understand what you’re getting me into. I’ll have to go and have a beer and ask around. See why people like Riston so much. It might even need three or four beers for me to get the information.”

“Whatever it takes. Just find out what you can. If Riston wins, then he and Galatee will be the joint chiefs. I know Galatee enough to manipulate her. But Riston? I don’t like the idea of a stranger having power in the town above my dungeon. He can’t be allowed to win.”

“Then we’re going to have to make you popular, Beno. This might just be the biggest task of my life.”

“Thanks.”

Gulliver finished his tea, tipped the tin mug so that the last drops fell out, and then wiped the inside with his sleeve. He put the mug back in his pack and left the chamber.

As he opened the door, I saw a kobold standing outside, his fist raised and ready to knock on the door. While most kobolds looked like bipedal wolves with a hint of a lizard side, this kobold was the opposite. He was all scales, little fur. His beady eyes were fully black, and his thin tongue stuck out of his mouth and rattled when he breathed.

“Maginhart,” I said. “Good to see you! Come in.”

Gulliver raised his hand. Maginhart slapped his own lizard claw against it. “Sorry I can’t stay, pal,” said Gulliver. “I’ll be in the Scorched Scorpion drinking…working…later if you want to catch up.”

“Sssee you then, ssscribe,” said Maginhart.

“So?” I said, when we were alone. “How’s it going? It’s the big day soon, right?”

Maginhart used to be part of the dungeon mining team. When he started to show dissatisfaction with manual labor, I had to find him something else. He was more of a thinker than a laborer. That was the problem. When I heard that Cynthia - the town’s tinker, alchemist, and artificer - was looking for an apprentice, I knew it was a great fit.

He was nearing the end of his apprenticeship now, and everyone in the dungeon was proud of him. I think he’d become a symbol to some of the newer kobolds. An idea that if they worked hard in the dungeon, there might be other opportunities.

I was as proud as anyone, but I had a selfish angle to all of this. Once he passed his apprenticeship, he’d be a fully-fledged artificer, tinker, and alchemist. We’d agreed that he would come back to the dungeon, where he’d be a great asset with those kinds of skills.

“I have brought you a gift, Dark Lord,” said Maginhart.

He reached into the pocket of his chemical-stained coat and took out an orb. It was colored black, but with a shock of blue light washing through it. The black color was actually smoke. Churning and churning inside the orb, with the blue flashing through like lightning.

“To passs my apprenticessship,” said Maginhart, “I mussst create an original device that employsss artificery, alchemy, and tinkering. Thisss isss my project, Dark Lord. I would like you to have it.”

“What is it?”

“When you activate the orb, it will sssend out a wave of light, Dark Lord. Or it would…if it worked.”

“I already have more mana lamps than I can count. I’m sick of them, actually. Dungeons are supposed to be gloomy. Everyone says so.”

Maginhart’s tongue rattled as he laughed. “Thisss light isss not to ssseee, Dark Lord. Though it may light the way…”

“You’ve adopted a very mysterious way of talking since you started studying alchemy. Do you know that? Everyone has commented on it. You talk in riddles.”

“A riddle can alssso ssshow the truth, Dark Lord.”

“I’ve had enough truth for one day. Thank you for this orb, Maginhart. But don’t you need to show this to Cynthia?”

“Thisss is a prototype. A failure.”

“Oh. I’m honored.”

“But sssometimesss, in failure, comesss…”

“Enough riddles! I hate them.”

“You have three riddle doorsss in your dungeon, do you not?” said Maginhart.

“Well, apart from them, I hate riddles.”

“Fine. Thisss isss an early prototype of my project, Dark Lord. Not perfect. But ssstil has sssome usssesss.”

“And what exactly does it do?”

“It makesss an excellent paperweight.”

“Great. I actually needed one, and I’m not even kidding! It’s