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

age groups, beginning with the youngest. I could only guess that your leaf meant which generation you were born in.

She had mentioned she was a second leaf in the Godwin tree. Godwin must have been a family name, and she was perhaps one of the oldest.

Finally, after all five leaf groups had given us gifts, I had amassed a pile of treasure below me. Daggers, leather chest pieces, boots, rings, necklaces.

There wasn’t much that I, a core gem with no arms, could do with those. Still, I wasn’t going to appear ungrateful.

“Thank you, wise leaves,” I said. I was really winging this. “May…may your branches be sturdy and not bow to even the strongest…strongest…wind. Yes.”

Galatee stared at me for what seemed like hours. “You would be wise to hold your words, like your knowledgeable friend,” she told me. “Core Jahn can be an example to you.”

Core Jahn? An example to me?

Well…fair enough. At least he’d kept his mouth shut. I had evidently said something wrong. I resolved to stay quiet too, until I had a better grasp of who these people were and how their culture worked.

“Core bearers, come forth,” said Galatee.

Two figures stepped forward, younger members of the crowd judging from their slender frames and what I could see of their faces beneath their masks. Jahn’s was a human girl, whereas mine was a green-faced teen with three eyes.

“We will descend,” said Galatee.

The core bearers each grabbed the rods Jahn and I were resting on and carried us, following Galatee’s lead. We headed away from the makeshift bazar and toward what appeared to be a completely desolate wasteland.

The green-skinned boy carrying me leaned closer. “This leaf is Warrane,” he said. “He is your bearer. It is an honor, oh powerful one.”

“The honor is mine, Warrane. I don’t think you’ll need to bear me much longer.”

“Oh? Can one such as yourself levitate?”

“No, no. I’m assuming I’ll soon be placed in a dungeon of some sort. I hope so, anyway.”

“You will still need this leaf to carry you, no?”

“No, Warrane. In a dungeon, I can create pedestal points that I can teleport to at will. There’s no need for a core to walk in his own dungeon.”

“Oh. This leaf thought…” his voice trailed off, and his shoulders slumped, the liquid metal forming around them and making the gesture more pronounced.

“Have I upset you? I have a habit of doing that. I once made Core Pollit cry.”

“Cry? You think a leaf of the Webb tree would cry?” he said.

“Warrane, until a few moments ago, I had never even heard of your tree culture. Whether the Webb leaves are criers or not is completely unknown to me. If you are, no shame in that. It’s good to let your emotions loose now and then.”

“This leaf does not cry. He comes from a tree with blackened branches,” said the boy, and he seemed a little older now as he talked. “He is a five-leaf, but will never become a first-leaf.”

“No? Don’t you just have to grow old to become a first-leaf, or have I got this wrong?”

“A leaf rises when a new one grows from the bud.”

“Ah. When you have children, you become a leaf higher than you were. It’s a little early to say that will never happen, Warrane. Take it from someone who was once a man, and now inhabits a gem core body. Life has a way of smashing you in the face with a big fist of surprise.”

“You don’t understand, wise core. The first, second, third, and fourth leaves in the Webb tree are blackened. Corrupted. Rotted. Dead on the inside, their foulness a blight upon the-”

“Okay, your relatives aren’t the best. But you’re right; I don’t understand.”

“The leaves above me left us. They joined the others, those who wish to destroy us. The Seekers. They tried to get this leaf to go with them. His grandparents, his mother…they begged him to leave, but he wouldn’t. First-leaf Godwin proclaimed that the Webb tree is wicked at the root, and he ordered that this leaf Warrane be cast out, but second-leaf Galatee…”

“She spoke up for you?”

“If it wasn’t for her, this leaf would have been dead. A corrupted tree spreads foulness through its roots and poisons the whole soil. That’s what first-leaf Godwin says.”

“Seems like a charming fella. They’re trusting you to carry me, though. Not to exaggerate my own worth, but that must mean something.”

“This leaf has for years tried to restore his reputation. He has volunteered for the tasks and labor that no other leaves want to do. He has never complained, never shirked. He has slowly won this reputation, and second-leaf Galatee has given him this chance to restore some pride to a withered tree.”

I sensed that this was an honor for him. Truth be told, I was a little uncomfortable being treated this way. Let me tell you, I didn’t see any honor in carrying someone like me around.

But, if somehow helping me would restore this poor lad’s family reputation, then I guessed I could play along. I didn’t enjoy having a servant – at least one not of my own creation – but I found myself liking Warrane immediately.

“Although I won’t need you to carry me around my dungeon,” I told him. “There may be other tasks.”

“Ones that will bring this leaf honor?”

“Lots of honor. More than you know what to do with.”

“Such as what, wise core?”

“You know. Core…stuff. In fact, I saw you collect the gifts your people gave me earlier, yes?”

“This leaf has a bag artificed to hold things many times its size.”

“Great. I might be able to use some of the things as loot for when the heroes come.”

“Heroes?” said Warrane, a puzzled look on his face.

Did these people not know about heroes?