The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) by Jonathan Brooks (e ink epub reader .txt) 📕

a Dungeon Monster out of cloth or a seed probably wouldn’t work that well, so that made sense.

As she selected the “(more)” option to the list, she was no longer holding out hope.  She had almost resigned herself to just doing what she could with her normal Powered Arachnids, dealing with decreasing resources as time went on.  Luckily, there was an interesting surprise on the last page of the Non-Monster Seed Origination Materials list.

Non-Monster Seed Origination Materials:

Territory Ant Egg

Paralyzing Spider Venom

Crag Hound Stone Carapace

Solitary Broat Mass

(back)

Of course!  How could I have forgotten about those?  Eagerly slotting in the Paralyzing Spider Venom (because, well, the Powered Arachnid was a spider, so why not?), Sandra was a little disappointed to see that the Mana Cost to create one jumped up to 100.  Might be good for defending against Goblins or even Beasts, but too expensive for what I need.  The same result happened when she put in the Crag Hound Stone Carapace as well as the Solitary Broat Mass, though for some reason the last one was 200 Mana!

That left the Territory Ant Egg, one of the very first Origination Materials she had ever received, back when she was still hollowing out her original Home room.  She couldn’t see what sort of benefit it would have, but she slotted it in anyway.

Dungeon Monster Creation

Dungeon Monster

Origination Material

Monster Seed(s)

Binding Agent

Powered Arachnid

Territory Ant Egg

None

Fairy Tear

Potential Viability

25%

Initial Skill Mana Cost

600

Initial Raw Materials Cost

80

Dungeon Monster Mana Cost

300

New Dungeon Monster Name

Fragile Territory Arachnid Queen

Darn – I knew it!  Not only was the changed Dungeon Monster at 25% Viability, but it also cost 300 Mana, a 1,500% increase!  That definitely wouldn’t work, and now she was out of options—wait…

She was about to close out of the Skill menu, but then she saw something that caught her eye.  The name of the new Dungeon Monster was Fragile Territory Arachnid Queen.  Flashbacks ran through her mind at the incessant production of eggs the Territory Ant Queen had created, and how it had taken everything she could throw at the Ant matriarch to defeat it.  But it wasn’t just eggs that had been produced; the Territory Ants that spawned from those eggs that had nearly been Sandra’s destruction.  Does that mean what I think it means?

She wasn’t sure if it was actually possible, but she was willing to take a chance; the Dungeon Core didn’t really have any other clear prospects, at least.  The problem was that the Queen seemed to lack Viability; at only 25%, it was possible that it would just fall apart if it tried to move.  Can I fix that?  There was only one way to try.

Sandra found that she could add additional selections to the Skill, though only in the form of Monster Seeds.  Of those, she could add an unlimited amount, apparently, though the Initial Costs increased exponentially.  Only needing one thing to help strengthen the Arachnid Queen, she started placing metals inside; Copper brought the Viability up to 30%, Nickel and Tin to 35%, Lead to 40%, Bronze to 45%, and Iron to 50%.  It was only as she added the stronger metals did the Viability come into range of where she thought it was acceptable.  Steel provided a 65% Viability, and Titanium was at 75%; not perfect, but it would have to do if she wanted it to work.

The Initial Mana and Raw Material Costs shot up to 12,000 and 6,000, but she was gambling that it was going to be worth it.  If not, then she had wasted a small chunk of time and resources on nothing, and she was back to having no other options than the Powered Arachnids.

New Custom Creation unlocked through Dungeon Monster Creation Skill!

 

Constructs (All):

Titanic Territory Arachnid Queen now available!

 

Titanic Territory Arachnid Queen

Mana Cost: 7000 Mana

It was a far cry from the cheap, inexpensive alternative she was looking for, but she could only hope that it did what she thought it would.  Spending the 9000 Mana required to make the Monster Seed and the Queen itself, she waited for it to form inside of her Home room.

“I can see why it might have been only a 25% Viability at first,” Winxa remarked upon first glimpse of the large spider on the floor.  Sandra couldn’t help but agree.

At 5 feet wide from leg tip to leg tip, the Spider was a scary-looking construct.  Not necessarily because of its size, which was horrifying to someone who didn’t like insects to start with, but because it was made from different materials.  First, the Territory Ant Egg material was what made up the “skin” or “shell” of the strange construct, which was a squishy, gel-like substance that creeped her out just looking at it.  Inside of the semi-translucent Egg material, however, were legs made from what Sandra assumed was Titanium, as well as where they connected to the body.  Unfortunately, that Titanium didn’t extend to all of the main body, which was a disgusting mass of Egg material and random thin plates of Titanium scattered over its different parts.  Assumedly, if the Titanium hadn’t been there, then the Queen would’ve had to try moving around with Egg-legs, which probably wouldn’t have worked too well.

Well, shall we try it?  Without waiting for Winxa’s answer, she sent her new Arachnid construct down through the Roc tunnel, and was surprised at how fast it was.  The Queen skittered down the tunnel quickly, aided by its strong legs for movement; its body was squishy and vulnerable, but if it had room to run, then anything trying to catch it would have a hard time.  In minutes, it had traveled out of her dungeon, so she sent it about a half-mile away from her dungeon entrance to see what it would do.

Nothing.