Thorn by Fred Saberhagen (reading like a writer TXT) 📕

in my mind. It was a map, and it showed how much of this warren of tunnels I had seen. So far, it only showed the great cavern, the passageways we’d used to get here, the core/mana spring room, and the essence room we were currently standing in.

I had an idea for something Warren could do, but I was a little hampered. See, when I create a creature in my dungeon, I can see their current position on my internal map. If they dig a new tunnel or explore a new part of the underground system, their progress is marked on my map.

I had an idea that Warren could walk through the cavern for me, thus filling in my internal map. Unfortunately, I hadn’t created Warren, so he wasn’t showing on my map.

Luckily, there was a way around that.

I quickly checked my inner core to see my resources.

Beno - Dungeon Core

Level: 5

Core Purity: 95%

Essence: 380/380

Rooms:

Core / Mana Spring

Essence Room

 

Dungeon Capacity:

Rooms: 14

Monsters: 16 

Traps: 18

Puzzles: 10

Monsters:

[Empty]

As could be expected, I had only two rooms in my dungeon. It was likely that the Wrotun had carved out more rooms nearby, but I would have to travel to them or have a creature go there to claim them.

 As a level 5 core, my dungeon capacity was much larger than when I had first graduated from the academy. That would serve me well here.

My monsters list was pathetically empty. Only a few days ago, back in my first dungeon, it had been filled with kobolds, fire beetles, and even a boss monster named Gary. He was a stone troll, leech, spider hybrid, and surprisingly cheerful.

No matter. I would create new monsters. What I had needed to see, though, was my stats. Particularly, my total essence.

Essence: 380/380

Do you see why I felt a little better?

I already had essence stored inside me, which I could now use to get started. Of course, it wouldn’t replenish until I cultivated the essence moss. Any essence I spent now would be gone, for the time being. At least I could do something.

With a mental blink, I conjured my crafting list in front of me. This showed what I could make using my essence, and how much essence each item would cost. The more I leveled up, the more things I would be able to make.

Core Crafting Categories:

 

7)  Dungeon Fixtures

Pedestal Point [Cost:12.5]

Lamp [Cost: 10]

Door [Cost: 15]

Pathway [Cost: 5]

Small Loot Chest [Cost: 20]

Iron Door [Cost: 10]

Fake Iron Door [Cost: 10]

Lock [Cost: 10]

Rug [Cost: 10]

 

8)  Monsters

Spider [Cost 15]

Leech [Cost 15]

Fire beetle [Cost 20]

Kobold [Cost 35]

Angry Elemental Jelly Cube [Cost 75]

Sinister Owl [Cost 120]

Stone Dwarf Troll [Cost 180]

Bogbadug [Cost 200]

 

 

9)  Tool & Weapons

Iron Pickaxe [Cost 200]

Iron Spade [Cost 200]

Iron Sword [Cost 250]

Iron Shield [Cost 250]

 

10)        Traps

Beartrap [Cost 50]

Pitfall [Cost 100]

Pressure Switch [Cost 50]

Poisoned darts [Cost 250]

 

 

11)        Puzzles

Floor Tile Patterns [Cost 250]

Riddle Doors [Cost 110]

Trick Levers [Cost 125]

Transmutation Station [Cost 500]

 

 

12)        Loot

Bag of Gold Coins [Cost: 50]

Slightly fancy sword [Cost: 50]

Semi-rare Gem [Cost: 75]

Generic Magic Spell Book [Cost: 100]

 

 

13)        Rooms

Essence growing room [Cost 80]

Specialised insect and fungi larder [Cost 100]

Melding room [Cost 120]

As you can imagine, there were lots of things that a working dungeon needed to be successful, and not all of them involved traps and death. You may have noticed that I had unlocked the ability to create a rug out of essence. I still don’t know why a core would ever need to do this, but it proves my point. We’re much more than conjurers of death.

What I needed now was a creature. This was how I would give Warren something to do instead of just standing around while I got busy.

So, what should I create? It had to be something small and inexpensive. Ah – I knew what would work.

Create leech.

Essence left me. Just a pinch of it since a leech cost 15, and that really wasn’t much. It started as a swirl of purple light drifting from my core, before gathering before me and taking shape.

Warrane recoiled, jerking the wooden rod so that I nearly tumbled off.

“Watch it!” I said.

“This leaf doesn’t understand,” he answered, eyeing the shape before us as the light left it, leaving behind a two-feet long leech.

“You know nothing about cores, do you?” I said. “This is what we do. We create things. Quite gruesome things, usually. This is the least of it, Warren.”

“This leaf doesn’t like the angry slug.”

“Angry slug? You don’t know what a leech is?”

“This leaf has never seen one.”

I forced myself to be a little less harsh to him. Warrane had lived down here all of his life, so his whole world of experience consisted of whatever lived underground. If there weren’t any leeches, then, of course, he’d have no idea what one was.

Not only that, but this was a dungeon leech, and thus was much larger than your normal swamp variety. I guessed if I had never seen one before and was suddenly introduced to this ugly thing, I would be a little perturbed, too. I knew how to ease his nerves though.

“Warrane,” I said. “This is your leech now. I’d like you to name him.”

Warrane looked at me strangely.

The leech suddenly turned his way, and it leaped at him.

“No!” I shouted. “Leech, you are not to attack Warrane.”

The leech swiveled my way. It didn’t have eyes, as such, but I could tell it was looking at me. I stared it down, even though my eyes weren’t visible either. It