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

so it’s quite possible.  But if it happened to you before, how did you repair all of those cracks?” he asked, sounding genuinely interested.

Oops.  “Uh…I’m not entirely sure, I think they just repaired themselves over time.”

“Huh.  Well, I guess that another thing I’ve never heard of…I guess I should’ve paid better attention in class, right?” He laughed it off, but Tacca could tell that her impromptu explanation was bothering him.  There was nothing she could do to help other than tell him the truth, though, and that wasn’t something she wanted to do right now.

From that point on, Tacca was a bit more cautious in her Force expenditure.  She found that it wasn’t necessarily the larger cost of the individual trees that had caused her to develop another crack, but the rapid expenditure of that amount one after another. Although, she had to admit that she was a little worried if a larger amount – like 200 Dungeon Force or more – was needed to create something, such as a trap, but there was no other way to find out but to try.  If I give the Force a rest before and after, I think I could use even more – but it’s a risk, certainly.

It took another five days of filling her dungeon with trees, ferns, shrubs, and wildflowers; Shale was impatient by that time because she hadn’t gained even a single CIP for all of that effort.  He wasn’t necessarily concerned for himself; he – like most Dungeon Assistants like herself – was taught that gaining as many Points as you could while you were smaller and weaker was the way to do things.  Looking at it from his perspective, it did seem a little wasteful and unnecessary; with reluctance, she thought that she would’ve probably agreed with him – if she was still a Fairy Dungeon Assistant.  As a Dungeon Core, however, she found that her priorities had changed and that she was in charge of her own destiny, not Shale or any other Assistant.

Next came the creatures that she wanted to use in her dungeon.  She’d already seen the foxes that she could create – for which a few Variants would work wonderfully with what she had planned – but now she needed to see exactly what she was working with.  To most with just a passing familiarity with the Canine family, the Wolf species would normally be considered the deadliest and most powerful.  To a certain extent, of course, they would be right; they were larger than most other members of the canine family, had powerful jaws, and worked together in packs to take down their prey – in this case, Raiders – with deadly efficiency.

To those who did a little more research, there were other possibilities—

“Ok, so I know you said you chose a ‘family’ instead of a singular species and Tacca somehow exploited a loophole to make it work for you, but I have to ask…why Canines?  I can think of dozens of other ‘families’ that would be better suited to being in a dungeon, and really, all you’ve got are wolves that are any good.  I mean, what is a fox possibly going to do?”

Shale interrupted her as she started creating suitable Variants of each of her different species in her Core Room.  Tacca wanted them all together so that she could visually see what she was working with, so she had started with a Root Fox again – since she was planning on using that Variant in her dungeon.  She almost ignored his question at first because she didn’t need to explain herself…but she figured this could be a teaching moment. Shale evidently hadn’t spent much time researching every single creature available and had likely dismissed some without really looking at them.

Therefore, as she created each creature she was planning on using in her dungeon, she explained her reasoning.  “First of all, this Root Fox Variant may look like it won’t do much, but that is the first part where you’re mistaken in your statement.  It may not be able to take on a Raider by itself, but most Canines – which I’m sure you know about wolves – are pack hunters by nature; when they attack together with any 2 or more others from the Canine family, they get a bonus to their physical attack.  When you add in the Root Fox’s natural extra defense, they can be a handful in larger packs that many weaker Raiders would have a hard time defending against. 

“On a side note, Canines are the only family of species that the Pack Hunter’s special circumstances apply to every single species in the family; while there are other creatures that have that special bonus, they only apply to members of their specific species, and with some they have to be the same Variant.”

“Huh.  I didn’t know that about—”

While she was talking about the Fox, her next creature was already forming.  As soon as it “popped” into existence so that Shale could see it, she continued her lesson.  “Now, this Branch Jackal Variant is unique in the fact that can climb trees with ease, using special nails that grow out of their paws; not only that, but their fur is specially shaded to camouflage them either on the side of a tree or on top of a tree branch – hence their name.  They are larger than foxes and have stronger jaws that can rip and tear easier, which means they have a slightly stronger Physical Attack, though they can’t withstand as much damage as the Root Fox; however, when you add in the fact that they can climb trees and attack from above, their surprise assaults can quickly overwhelm an unprepared group of Raiders.”

Shale was still invisible, but she could make enough of him out to see that he was shaking his head; whether it was in confusion or