The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) by Jonathan Brooks (e book reading free txt) 📕

and for use in more composite bows that the Elves were using.  She crafted two dozen more of those bows along with their normal bolts and explosive bolts (which would easily equip all of the Rangers in the village).  She also finished the plundering of the collapsed Reptile dungeon and started the tunnel towards the Undead dungeon with her Hyper Automatons, which was much easier now that she had most of the materials already at hand; she was also happy to see that the Reptile tunnel collapsed on its own once the Steel tubing was removed, so she didn’t have to worry about it being another access point.

One disappointing development from gathering all of the Monster Seeds in the Reptile dungeon, however, was that the blue shards of the Water-based Dungeon Core she was hoping to absorb…well, they wouldn’t do anything.

Winxa, why can’t I absorb these pieces of the other Core?

“That’s…very strange,” the Dungeon Fairy answered after a few seconds.  She looked entirely perplexed.  “You should be able to absorb them like almost any other material, I know that for a fact from my own experiences as a guide for new Cores that were born next to their destroyed predecessors.  The fact that you cannot absorb them must mean…something; what exactly that might be is a mystery.”

It was certainly a mystery, but not one that she thought she could solve right then and there.  Instead, she had a couple of Automatons bring the shards to her treasury, where she stored them away until a later time when she could devote some time to investigating.

She also made another dozen constructs in total for the Dwarven Shieldmen to use in their culling of the Golems and the Goblins, including 4 more Dire Wolves and Jaguar Queens, 3 additional Ape Warriors equipped with enchanted Titanium warhammers, and another Titanium Anaconda.  As they became ready, she sent them out to the Dwarves to use immediately instead of keeping them for their next outing.  The additional help allowed both groups to easily keep up with the increased output of the two dungeons, which was essential to keeping things under control.

Shortly after midnight, all of the Shieldmen came back exhausted but pleased with their work to her dungeon; the constructs, on the other hand, were now a large enough force that she could allow them to operate autonomously and continued to roam around and kill any Dungeon Monsters they could find.  She gave them instructions to leave anything different from whatever they had already fought before alone and to retreat if something out of the norm came up.  Since she wasn’t controlling them directly, anything difficult would have to be addressed when the Shieldmen came back the next day.

Along with their return, they also brought back bags full of Monsters Seeds from their culling.  None of it was particularly impressive; from the Golems came a variety of different metals including Copper, Iron, Gold, and even Steel, along with a Tiny Faceted Topaz Sphere for some of the larger Stone Golems that were destroyed. The Goblins also had some metals, like Copper, Nickel, and Iron that were used for their weaker and more numerous Goblins in their camps, but there were also some varieties of wood sticks like Yew and even Ironwood.  The more difficult Hobgoblins and larger Brawler varieties of Goblins sometimes dropped Tiny Faceted Hematite Spheres, which by that point almost seemed typical of these dungeons to have some sort of elemental Monster Seed.

Sandra absorbed every Seed they brought back and used the Mana she received from them for a few purposes.  The largest portion of it was spent on the creation of another Aerie Roc, which was needed for Gerold to ride on the next day; she had already crafted another harness for it earlier, so it was easy enough to strap it on and get it ready for the Dwarven delegate in the morning.  The second, smaller portion was used to create basic Elemental Orbs, which she was stockpiling in her treasury for emergencies.  Now that she had the opportunity, she needed to build the reserves up again that she had ended up burning through because of the Undead Core’s threat.

Just before dawn, Sandra looked around her AOI to see another, larger group of Rangers headed towards her dungeon.  They were un-Bonded, and from conversations she overheard from some nearby Shears monitoring their border with the Wastelands, it was obvious that they wanted Bonds and to acquire some of the new bows.  Fortunately, she had created just about enough Energy Orbs for the Bonding process for the 30 new Elves streaming towards her dungeon, though she might need to enchant and convert some of the Elemental Orbs she was putting away in order to accommodate them.

The stumbling block to getting them all Bonded was going to be her available Mana, as it took 1,000 per Bond; while she was nearly full at the moment, she would need to wait for it to replenish before she could finish them all.  Luckily, Chryla was with them so that Sandra could communicate with the un-Bonded Elves.

* Chryla!  I see we have some more that want to Bond with me…and perhaps acquire some of the new bows? Let them know that it will take approximately an hour and a half to accommodate that many, as I need to absorb more Mana over that time to finish all of their Bonds.  Oh, and just a heads-up; both the Beast and Slime dungeons just upgraded their Cores, so their reach has been expanded.  From what I can tell, both of them can now send their Dungeon Monsters just beyond the forests’ edges in a few places. *

The young Elf Ranger wasn’t especially pleased at that last information, but she passed on what Sandra had said to the others.  “Thanks, Sandra; those that get bonded first will run back immediately to start on culling the Monsters