The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) by Jonathan Brooks (e ink epub reader .txt) 📕

hesitate and get you strapped in.  We need to get this going, because in a few days we’re going to need as much help as we can get. *

Sandra knew she could hold out for a few more days, at least, against the other Cores, but after that she was more than aware she couldn’t do it by herself.  Since she hadn’t heard from the others (a loud grumbling rocked her mind for a moment at the thought of them), she was going to act on her own to obtain help from an Orcish authority.

Even if she had to establish that authority herself.

Kelerim complained a bunch while Owchet helped to get him prepared to fly, but eventually they were off.  Knowing there wasn’t much that she could do to help convince Palzerk to come back to the dungeon, Sandra made sure the Roc was able to obey orders from both of its passengers; if the massive bird couldn’t protect them, then there wasn’t much else that she could do.

 

* Though, honestly, I’m pretty sure that one of his former Warband members arriving on the back of the giant bird will be more than enough to convince him. *

“I have no doubt you’re right, Sandra – but what’s your plan now?” Winxa suddenly asked, hearing the thoughts that had been going through the Dungeon Core’s mind.  It was actually nice for once to have someone keeping tabs on her thoughts who wasn’t trying to overtake her consciousness.

 

* A few things, actually.  Now that my Mana is flowing in at an increasingly faster pace, I think it’s time to start on some more permanent defenses against these Cores.  That, and I think I need to get to crafting again.  There were a few things I thought of when I was left to myself, and I want to try them out. *

“That’s an excellent idea.  Who knows, maybe the crafting will eliminate your little ‘insane Core shard’ problem?”

 

* It’s not exactly little, but I appreciate the thought.  Regardless, as far as I can tell, crafting can’t really hurt. *

As much as she wanted to get started on that right away, Sandra knew she needed to ensure she was safe to do so.  It would be foolish not to take advantage of this time to set something up, especially when she wasn’t under the direct pressure of constant threat.

 

* Let’s get started. *

Chapter 20

The issue with defending against 4 different Dungeon Cores was one of having to monitor and react to each of the different tunnels leading to her dungeon.  While she briefly thought about spending some time rerouting them all so that they began at either her giant Roc tunnel or her normal entrance, so as to concentrate her protection on a single area, she realized this wouldn’t work without a lot more time invested into those defenses.

For her original dungeon, the hallways connecting each of the rooms were so narrow that many of the Golems and Beasts wouldn’t fit.  On paper, this sounded like an excellent solution, since that would prevent 2 of the Cores from reaching her; in reality, what it likely meant was that they would attempt to find another avenue of attack – one for which she could not necessarily prepare.

The Roc tunnel was different.  It was plenty large enough for anything the Cores sent toward her, but the defenses inside weren’t necessarily meant for constant waves of Dungeon Monsters.  Many of the traps inside – which, for the most part, she hadn’t replaced as of yet – required large amounts of Mana to establish; as a result, they took a longer time to recharge from the ambient Mana floating around her dungeon.  Hours, perhaps, though she hadn’t yet had a chance to evaluate that timing.

The problem with those traps – and the Dungeon Monsters she had placed within – was that they required large amounts of upkeep to maintain within the Roc tunnel.  Replacing them up with something more cost-effective was always a possibility, but with so much ground to cover because of its size, there really weren’t too many viable options.  Becoming honest with herself, Sandra recognized that she really had the Roc tunnel solely as a place where her Roc could exit her dungeon, and it wasn’t necessarily made for constant defense.

Using both was an option, as she could have the Slimes and Goblins go through the smaller, “normal” dungeon route, with the Beasts and Golems through the other, but the same problem presented itself.  Looking at her current Mana intake every minute and throughout a day, even with the ever-increasing influx from her Arachnid Queens, she doubted they would be able to maintain them for more than a day with a constant stream of replacement constructs or Dungeon Monsters of her own.

Current Mana Intake

Core Absorption: 10 Mana/hour

Dungeon Absorption: 10 Mana/min

Aboveground Absorption: 3320/min

Per Hour Intake: ~200,000

Daily Intake: ~4,800,000

At a little over 3,000 Mana per minute, 200,000 Mana per hour, and nearly 5,000,000 Mana a day, it sounded like more than enough.  However, considering that some of her most effective constructs could take up to 10 minutes to acquire enough Mana to create – especially if she had to create a Monster Seed in the process – then that would be barely enough to keep things running.  If there were a sudden breakthrough somewhere and she would have to react quickly, she didn’t have enough Mana coming in to effectively respond.  She could tell that was half of the issues she had been having before her Core Size upgrade; the other half was that there was no clear strategy for long-term defense, as the insane entity in her mind was focused on eventually overcoming the other Cores and destroying them.

With that evaluation, there had to be a better way to use the resources at her disposal.  Fortunately, there was