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

and marble podium worried me. But not just that. There was also the look on Tarnbuckle’s face. He didn’t look like he was bluffing.

What would happen if I got on the scale? Would it tell me that my core was of low quality? My core didn’t feel so shoddy, but was that the kind of thing I would sense?

Tarnbuckle, Bolton, and Jahn were all staring at me. If I left here without taking the test, the questions wouldn’t go away. It would make Bolton and Jahn doubt me. Worse, I would doubt myself.

“Let’s get this charade over with,” I said.

Tarnbuckle used an alchemic knife to chip the tiniest slither off my core body. He placed this on the scale.

Soon, wisps of essence drifted from the gold and wrapped around me, and something lit on the base of the podium.

Bolton stood up and peered at it.

“So you see,” said Tarnbuckle.

“I do,” said Bolton, gravely.

“What is it?” I said.

“Look for yourself,” said Tarnbuckle.

I floated off the scale and hovered in front of the podium, where the numerals were etched. The numerals counted to ten, and only one of them was lit.

I felt new knowledge etch itself into my core.

Core Beno

Level: 28

Core Purity: 71%

**Core Quality: Base**

Essence: 5100/ 5100

“Your core is rated as Base. That is the lowest quality ranking,” said Tarnbuckle. “If this test had existed when you were forged, we would have found a different candidate and left your soul to fester in your corpse. Count yourself lucky that you even got a second life in the first place.”

“How many ranks of core quality are there?”

“Ten, obviously. You needn’t learn the others, considering your quality is the lowest.”

Bolton gave me a kind smile and whispered to me. “Base, MidBase, UpperBase, Foundation, MidFoundation, UpperFoundation, Enlightened, Ancient, True Ancient, and Ascended. ”

“You knew about this?”

“I have heard rumors of a new test, yes. I researched it a little, but it just seemed like a fad.”

Tarnbuckle stared at me, but words fluttered from my mind. What does a person say when they are told that their core is of low quality? What did that even mean? That I came from low stock? That I had lived my old life badly, and this had left its mark on my soul?

All I knew was that I wouldn’t let this stupid golden scale dictate anything.

“No matter what your toy says, your regulations are written for all to see. You are duty-bound to evaluate me for possible sponsorship.”

Tarnbuckle’s smile couldn’t have been more patronizing if he practiced in front of a mirror. “Well, if you still want to go ahead with this charade, then fine. You understand that you have no chance, yes?”

“I’ve never let a little thing like that stop me.”

Chapter 5

Later that day, Overseer Tarnbuckle summoned me to the academy’s main chamber. Hung on the walls were charcoal etchings of some of the best dungeons ever created. The centerpiece was the Necrotomitlita, a labyrinth of death created by Overseer Bolton. It was a dungeon so magnificent that it had earned him a rare third resurrection. Ever since becoming a core, I’d always looked up to him for creating the Necrotomitlita.

I was joined by four other cores, all of whom bore the essence aura of cores forged by the Dungeon Core Academy. It was the same aura that I had, too. Much in the way every person’s house has its own scent, so do cores from the same academy. I had been away from the academy for so long that my aura had probably dimmed somewhat.

Overseer Tarnbuckle was wearing his official head overseer’s robes fastened around his swollen gut. His great medallion was slung around his neck, and it bounced against his belly with every step.

The four cores who were to be evaluated for sponsorship were forged into different cuts and hues of gemstones. It wasn’t so important which type of gemstone was used to forge a dungeon core. Only that it be sensitive to essence, and thus, good for core bonding. My competitors were red, blue, green, and grey colored cores.

“Today, we will evaluate five cores to see who will be granted the honor of academy sponsorship for the Battle of the Five Stars tournament in Heaven’s Peak. There, you will be representing the academy. Only the best of you will be permitted sponsorship.”

After saying this he glanced at me, his brow more furrowed than I thought was possible.

“There will be three tests to decide who is worthy of sponsorship. The first will test your knowledge of all things relating to being a core.”

What do you know? That was my specialty. Maybe this wouldn’t be so tough.

“The second will test the skills you have learned in the academy.”

Not bad. Not only was I a keen student when I attended the academy, but I would have an experience advantage over cores, who hadn’t left yet. I had created a real, functioning dungeon, which was something these other cores wouldn’t have done.

Overseer Tarnbuckle clasped his overseer necklace in his hands and beamed a smug smile.

“The third test will evaluate the quality of your core.”

Oh, bloody hell.

The first test of the evaluation went as I’d hoped. The five of us were made to answer questions in turn. The questions were set by Overseer Tarnbuckle and were sourced from the academy library. They ranged from basic trap construction, creature compendiums, demonology, and dungeon architecture and aesthetics.

When I had been a student at the academy, I’d practically lived in the library. The other cores spent their free time messing around. But the way I saw it, we wouldn’t be the academy forever. It seemed a shame to waste such a treasure trove of knowledge.

Using the memory palace technique that the overseers taught me, I committed many of