The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (read novel full .txt) 📕

more serious ones like broken bones within 10 minutes.  It was a good way for an Assistant to contribute to a dungeon, because she could be used to heal the creatures inside that may be wounded from a Raider invasion; even though the creatures that a Core used were created by Dungeon Force, they didn’t heal automatically – they were like real beasts in that respect.

Thinking about her creatures made her anxious to finish her dungeon; she wasn’t planning on staying hidden forever, and now with her improved Dungeon Force capabilities, her nearly repaired Core, and her construction progress, Tacca knew she was better prepared than when she was first turned into her new form.  She needed to get moving, get Raiders to come invade her dungeon, and build from there.

Inevitably, there was a hitch in her plan…Shale came back.

Through her Bond with him, Tacca felt a strange change in its strength – as if it faded for a moment – which fortunately alerted her to his arrival.  She didn’t like being surprised, and it was good knowing that she had at least a moment’s advance warning before he popped into her Core Room using his Translocation Ability.

“Hello again, Tamara.  It looks like you’re stuck with me for a while, if that’s alright with you,” he said as soon as he arrived with a sad look on his face and black streaks running through his Mood Clothes; within seconds of arrival, Shale activated his Invisibility and Repellant Shield – which was promising, as he had learned from his mistakes from before.  As for what he said, Tacca had expected as much when she offered him the chance to leave; it wasn’t necessarily up to either of them whether or not he could leave – because it was ultimately the Council’s decision.

“What happened?”

She couldn’t see his facial expressions anymore from where he was in his Invisible state, though she found that she could more easily pinpoint his whereabouts; she wasn’t sure if it was because she had increased her Assistant Rank Stages or because of their Bond, but she was thankful for the easy way she could keep tabs on him.  “Well, I spent about a day going over what you told me with a few other Council Members, before getting some sleep.  Another day was spent looking over Tacca’s…body…for any signs of injury that might’ve been missed; just as you said, though, everything indicates that something happened to her that wasn’t controlled by anything you might’ve had.  It’s still a mystery, though, so Lily wants me to stay here and see if I can find any other evidence of what happened.  Well, that, and they wanted to see what kind of effect Tacca’s death may have had towards your development.”

She’d talked to Lily enough to have a good idea of what that really meant.  Great…he’s essentially a spy for the Council.  There was no getting out of it now; she was going to have to learn how to navigate her way through the next year or so with Shale Bonded to her – and hope that she didn’t let anything slip as to her origins.

“Fair enough…well, I’m glad you’re here, even if it doesn’t seem like you want to be Bonded to me.”

Shale’s tone of voice was tinged with something that sounded like embarrassment.  “I’m sorry, I don’t mean for it to seem like that.  I just never expected…this whole thing…as my first assignment.  I apologize if I seem hesitant and a little stand-offish, and I know that this whole situation with Tacca dying unexpectedly is probably just as hard on you as it is on me.”

You got that right.

Of course, she didn’t tell Shale that being Bonded to him was hard because she didn’t want to reveal anything that could get her in trouble.  Instead, she commiserated with him about the death of her “previous Assistant”, until he started to warm up a little bit towards her.  She didn’t particularly care if he liked her or not, but she knew it would make everything a bit easier to deal with if he wasn’t against her from the beginning.

“So, Tamara, tell me about what’s going on and then I can see if I can do anything to Assist with it; that is my job, after all.  According to my Experience Countdown, it appears as if you’ve been busy.”

Tacca already planned on telling him at least some of what her plans were and what her initial selections were – because it would be hard to hide it for long – but she paused when Shale mentioned his Experience Countdown.  She had been so focused on her own development that she forgot for a moment what the Bond meant for the actual Dungeon Assistant.

“What do you mean?  Have you…gained any Experience yet?”  She was actually curious if anything had changed in his countdown because of her unique nature.

Shale laughed, as if her question was an ignorant one – but it didn’t sound particularly mean, at least.  “No, no – I’ve got a long way to go until that happens.  Just like you, it takes a year for my Experience to be officially registered…though I doubt I’ll be here long enough for that to take effect if the Council pulls me out.”

He sounded disappointed, which Tacca could fully understand; all of those she had been Bonded to before had been destroyed way before a year was up, so that was the reason she had never received any Experience.  If Shale were to stay near her for close to a year, but then have his Bond broken before that year was up, all of that accumulated Experience would essentially be lost.

“Actually, what I was referring to was the 497 Experience I see in my Countdown already.  I’d love to see what you have going on that got you so many…uh, Core Improvement Points, I believe.  Not only