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

After speaking with Bolton, I made my choice and received a third trinket.

Revered Trinket received: 

Core Belt of Core Quality

By now, the rest of my friends were in the dungeon, and the Academy of the Eastern Spire was long gone. The sky was darkening above God’s Fist. There was one more fight in this arena today, and some of the crowd were staying for it, while others were heading to different arenas to watch different academies in battle.

Just as I was leaving, I heard a voice calling my name. When I looked around, I saw a man sitting in an oak chair in the audience. He was wearing overseer robes and had a smug look on his face.

“Tarnbuckle? What do you want?” I said.

“You’ve got further than I expected, with this joke of an academy of yours. I suppose even a sheep might look like a wolf from a distance if you drape a pelt over it.”

“I’m touched that you came to see me fight,” I said. “I didn’t know you’re a fan.”

“You might think I use my words as a lens, like a child directing sunlight at a beetle to watch it burn. There is no malice in my words. I am simply realistic, Core Beno. Gone are the days where forgers and overseers employed guesswork in our craft. Gone are the days were cores with cores like yours were forged. You are a relic, unfortunately. It isn’t your fault. Simply the way of the empire. Progress. When you stand in its way, you are like a stone clogging a well and preventing the rest of us from drinking.”

“I never asked to be forged, Overseer. If a mistake was made, your hand was involved in it. And when you watch me advance in the tournament, you will have to reflect on that.”

Tarnbuckle stood up. “Something tells me that our academies may meet before long. Who knows? Perhaps even in the Saucer of the Gods itself. Miracles can - and do - happen. Why not do me a favor, Beno, and try and drag your belly over the line? We would relish facing you in the final.”

“The meal might not taste so sweet once it’s actually served to you.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I imagine it will be just as good as I expect. Here’s to the quarter-final, then. I may even attend and watch you and your monsters get pounded into the dust. I could use a diversion.”

Chapter 23

I was in the alchemy chamber with Maginhart when I found out who we would fight in the quarter-finals of the tournament. The room was a small grotto with shelves lining every wall, crammed with bottles and jars containing liquids, spices, and assorted dried animal parts. Dominating the center of the room was a scorched workbench, upon which rested Maginhart’s dozens of books and his burner and experiments.

A voice echoed through my dungeon.

“Tournament announcement: the combatants for the quarter-finals of the Battle of the Five Stars have been drawn. The fixtures are as follows…”

The announcer listed the other six academies, by which point I had guessed who that meant we would face.

“The Dungeon Core Academy,” I said. “Well, well. Looks like Tarnbuckle and I will meet sooner than we thought.”

“The Dark Lord will dessstroy him,” said Maginhart, his lizard tongue rasping against his lips.

Maginhart was a wolf–lizard creature like the rest of my kobolds. But while the others had all inherited a wolfish appearance, Maginhart’s face looked more like his lizard side, with his shining scales and a forked tongue that stuck out of his lips.

I hadn’t expected much when I created Maginhart. He was supposed to be a kobold miner, overseen by Wylie. He’d surprised me with his intelligence and keenness to learn. Combined with a love of alchemy he’d gained while studying under Cynthia, it meant he was an impressive monster.

“From this round onwards, we won’t be able to heal between battles,” I said. “I need you to find an alchemic way around this.”

“Yesss, Dark Lord,” he said. “But what did you have in mind?”

“Something that does a similar job to healing, without beginning the healing process. Perhaps a potion that could be applied to a wound and form a protective barrier around it? Something that would shield it from further damage, and perhaps limit the effects of any wounds to the small area of the body, leaving the rest of the body untouched?”

Maginhart drummed his lizard fingers on the workbench. “Leave it with me, Dark Lord, I will endeavor to find sssomething.”

Overseer Gill walked into the alchemy chamber, wearing a robe opened in the middle. “Beno? Join me. I'd like to show you something.”

“What is it?”

“You’ll find out sooner if you stop asking questions.”

Following Gill, I headed to the Garuvia arena, which I hadn’t visited or fought in yet. Although there were no fights scheduled today, one academy had taken up residence in the middle of the arena. I studied the emblem painted on the overseers’ robes. It was an obelisk with strange runes painted on it.

“The Academy of the Infernal Obelisk,” I said.

“You’re lucky you were not drawn against them, Beno.”

“I have to fight the Dungeon Core Academy. I don’t fancy my chances any more with them than with the Infernal Obelisk.”

“Then you clearly haven’t been paying attention. Didn’t the Infernal Obelisk’s last fight teach you how feared they should be? And what about their first-round battle? They made absolute fools of the Academy of the Howling Wolf.”

“I haven’t seen them fight yet.”

Gill sighed. “Bolton told me how studious you are. Is he a liar? They let us watch other cores while they train. They allow any core a special seat to spectate other core's matches. All these opportunities to learn, and you haven’t studied your potential opponents?”

Now,