The Crafter's Dungeon: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (literature books to read TXT) 📕

other tunnel…room now, actually.  She must’ve been doing that longer than she thought; after looking at the extra Tiny and Small Bronze Orbs around her Core, she estimated that she had been crafting for at least a few hours.

Well, I have the knowledge, just not the experience.  Plus, while this new construct’s hands work much better than the Golem’s clamps, it doesn’t really have full range of motion.  I’m sure it’ll get better in the future.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disparage your efforts,” Winxa sincerely apologized.  “I’m actually quite impressed with what your done so far.  So…what’s your next plan?”

Sandra pretended to think about it for a few seconds, but she already knew exactly what she wanted to do.  While physical crafting like blacksmithing was something she enjoyed learning about, the craft that held the dearest place in her heart was Enchanting.  The way the different elements were combined together to affect the characteristics of everyday items was intoxicating; it was that kind of power that she had been looking forward to trying out herself, though she hadn’t had the chance to until now.

It was different from the way she infused things with Mana or Raw Materials like when she made the stone walls or even Dragon Glass.  Enchanting was more subtle and followed rigid guidelines to set up the enchantment correctly on an object; her Dungeon Core method of forcing Mana into substances physically changed the material and not the properties of the object.  It was a subtle difference, but it was also one that differentiated it from actual Enchanting.

Sandra knew she had access to all of the elements now through her abilities as a Dungeon Core, so she eagerly wanted to test them out.  Picking out the easiest enchantment that she could think of, she concentrated on the knife and imagined a small stream of Earth forming on the blade, tracing out simple a simple Rune that would permanently strengthen the metal, while also making it flexible enough to bend instead of breaking when force was applied to it – up to a point.  There were more complicated enchantments that would make any weapon or armor nearly indestructible, but this one wasn’t that powerful.

She waited for a few moments for the Earth elemental energy to appear, but nothing happened.  Since Sandra had never actually accessed it before in her previous life, she didn’t know the exact feeling of manipulating the elements, but she had seen it done literally thousands of times; nevertheless, everything she tried to get it to manifest ended in failure.  Giving up with Earth, she also tried every other element she could think of, and even all of them at the same time, but nothing worked.

What’s going on?  Why isn’t this working?

“What are you trying to do?” Winxa asked worryingly.

Sandra told her what she was trying to do in a panicked voice.  “Ah, I see.  I think that there might be a misunderstanding,” the Dungeon Fairy said in a calming voice – though it didn’t really do much to calm the Dungeon Core’s mounting anxiety.  “While you, as a Core, have access to all of the elements in terms of a Classification, you can’t actually manipulate the energy the same way living creatures and sentient races can.  You have an entirely different resource to use: your Mana.  The two are similar, but they are incompatible with each other.”

So that means I’ll never be able to Enchant anything?

Winxa thought about it for a few seconds before responding.  “Well…I wouldn’t necessarily say that.  Most living creatures can manipulate elemental energies, and Dungeon Monsters are no exception.  If you were to use one to complete the enchantment, that might work.”

Sandra was all set to jump into her Sentinel again and try working through it, but she was cut off by the Fairy.  “However, before you try using your constructs to do it, keep in mind that I said, ‘living’.  While they are certainly lifelike, they don’t have the ability to manipulate elemental energies.”

Well, I guess I’ll need to decide whether or not to change my Classification sooner than I thought.

Chapter 18

Sandra wasn’t quite sure what to do about her dilemma.

While she wanted to be able to enchant things, she was growing rather fond of her constructs; if she were to change her Classification, she would lose access to monsters like her Sentinel and even her Animated Shears.  The first one was very useful in crafting metals and handling hot materials, as it didn’t get tired and could marginally withstand the intense heat the small forge gave off.  Of course, if it got too close to the enclosed oven, it would start to melt – like her poor Golem – but it was likely that it was more resistant than most other monsters to the high temperatures.

Her flying Animated Shears, on the other hand, were very useful in collecting ambient Mana from above the ground where her other constructs couldn’t reach.  If she changed Classifications, there was no guarantee that there would be something available that could take its place.  That wasn’t reason enough to delay changing her Classification, but it was definitely a factor in her decision.

“I understand, Sandra.  I’ve never seen a Dungeon Core able to change their Classification before, so I’m unsure of the proper way to go about it,” Winxa told her in a weirdly monotone voice.

I’ll just play around with my Core Selection Menu and see what I can find.

There was no obvious, “Change my Classification” section on the main menu, so Sandra tried to mentally think about the process…and nothing happened.  When that didn’t work, she started looking through every obvious option she had; skills, traps, seeds, monsters – they were all there, but she didn’t see anything extra that hinted at changing her Classification.

It was, of course, the last thing she tried that did the trick – and