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

out of the threat of one of them dying. Now that it had happened and one of them had died, his fears had nothing to cling to.

Maybe he had been cut out for the army after all. Maybe he shouldn’t have let their father’s death stop him.

“Lisle,” he said. “Cast fireballs on the floor. Try and cover as much of it as possible.”

“There are no monsters.”

“We don’t have a rogue, so we can’t detect traps. This is the only way of activating them without getting hurt.”

And so, Lisle conjured up his tiny fireballs, casting one after another against different parts of the ground. Soon, they heard a metallic snapping sound, and Bill saw a bear trap not too far ahead.

After casting almost twenty fireballs, Lisle strained his face, then stopped. “I’m out of mana,” he said.

Bill nodded. “It looks like the rest of the room is clear, at any rate. See the door on the far side? Better press on.”

Bill led them onwards, while his brother, the barbarian, the mage, and the bard followed until they reached the door at the end of the room.

CHAPTER 28

I floated above the pedestal in my core room, casting my core vision out over my dungeon. I was a very, very happy core.

Barely minutes after getting my first party of heroes in my dungeon, I’d already bagged one of them! I couldn’t exactly check, but I was willing to guess that I’d broken the academy record for the quickest hero kill by a graduate.

Delicious, just delicious.

Even better than the feeling of success was the reward that it brought. See, killing bogbadugs and rats to level up was useful, but slow.

Killing a hero, though…

Just one measly hero corpse leveled me up twice. Yes, twice!

You have leveled up to 5!

- Total essence increased to 380

- Existing crafting categories expanded

- Dungeon capacity increased: 14 rooms, 18 traps, 10 puzzles, 16 monsters

Having all this new essence was such a rush that I almost crafted a few new monsters there and then, to capitalize on my progress and make things even tougher for the pathetic heroes.

I had to restrain myself.

Things change once heroes enter a dungeon. The mystical rules that govern essence alter a little. When a party of looters traipse into a core’s labyrinth, essence vines temporarily stop working.

The effect is that whatever essence I use while the heroes are here, won’t be replenished until the battle is over.

So, I had to be a cautious little core and save my essence. I had to watch the heroes and think strategically, only using essence when absolutely necessary.

I turned my gaze back to them now. Despite Bolton’s reward, these heroes didn’t look very tough. Their rogue had already fallen into a pit, leaving just a barbarian, mage, bard, and a couple of rookies.

The rookies were the least of my troubles. One of them seemed to be cocky; he was leading the way, gripping his sword and directing the others. I could tell he was young and unpracticed, and I didn’t think he or his other rookie friend would last long.

Right now, the party was walking in the circular trick tunnel that I had made. I laughed my stupid, gemmy laugh as I watched them go around in circles.

Seriously, they did this for a full hour before one of them, the guy with the lute strapped to his back, pointed out to the others that they didn’t seem to be making much progress.

I wondered if I should send a couple of fire beetles to the tunnels to throw them off a little. Hmm. It would be entertaining to watch.

No, better to wait. Let them get tired and scared. They’d be much easier to kill that way.

Finally, the party made their way back into the entrance chamber, where the fully-fledged mage cast a spell. A great golden eye floated from his fingertips. It blinked, and then it spread light over my walls, revealing the disguised door which led to the rest of my dungeon.

Damn mages and their stupid spells.

CHAPTER 29

Bill couldn’t believe how inept they were. He’d realized they were walking in circles ages ago, but the barbarian would hear none of it. He probably just didn’t like ceding authority to a young guy without a hero license, one who hadn’t used his sword in years.

Nevertheless, the bard eventually made him see sense, and they headed back to the entrance, where the mage cast a spell that made Lisle’s eyes widen in envy.

“Behold,” said the mage. “A door. My great spell of disillusionment has uncovered it.”

The barbarian turned the handle. “A locked door.”

“A trifling matter.”

The mage used another spell, this time casting a great, spectral key from his palm. With a click, the door opened into a tunnel, and beyond it was another room.

This time, they didn’t walk into an empty room. Instead, there were four beetles with fire on their shells, a strange-looking frog creature, and a little stone dwarf.

“Battle formations,” said the barbarian, who had recovered himself. “Mage, watch our health. Heal those in need. Bard, play your tune of courage.”

The bard swung his lute around and began playing, and the twang of his lute met with the sounds of the beetles scuttling toward them, the frog hopping, and the dwarf lumbering over.

Bill’s newfound courage left him for a second. His all-too-human instincts kicked in, and he found himself backing away.

It was only when Lisle charged forward alongside the barbarian, that he pulled himself together.

Swords struck beetles. Spells fired out. The barbarian gave a war cry, and Bill felt a strange energy fill him, and suddenly he knew he was just that little bit stronger.

The barbarian cleaved through the stone dwarf again and again, only stopping when a great stony fist broke his