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

never heard of a Dungeon Core being placed near an area that was largely inaccessible before, so this is probably just a fluke,” Shale told her, in an attempt to cheer Tacca up.  She appreciated his attempt, but she was terribly worried that her “bad luck” had placed her far to the south of the known world, in the frozen wastelands where no one and nothing lived.  What her Dungeon Assistant said was true, however, so she felt a little better: no dungeon had ever been placed somewhere really hard or impossible to get to before.  It would completely defeat the purpose of their presence, after all, if Raiders weren’t able to invade them.

I guess I should be thankful that I didn’t emerge at the bottom of a lake, or inside a volcano; I hope this storm really is temporary, though, because otherwise I’m going to have an extremely boring eternity of existence.

There was nothing that Tacca or Shale could really do about her dungeon’s location, so they were forced to wait…and wait…and wait…  Three weeks went by without much cessation of the wild, blowing snow outside her entrance, but the determined Dungeon Core refused to give in to defeat.  While they were waiting for something to happen, and as the snow piled up so much that she couldn’t even see outside anymore, Tacca didn’t twiddle her imaginary thumbs.

She began expanding her dungeon downwards from her Core Room, adding additional tunnels and rooms, though there was no particular thought process behind them.  The expansion was done for two main reasons. One, now that she was technically done with her forest-themed, Enchantment-trapped, Canine-guarded dungeon, she didn’t really have anything to do; the construction, while relatively boring, gave her something to do and concentrate on.

Most dungeons – from what she had been taught and had observed herself – were busy from the moment they opened up to the outside world; they didn’t have the Dungeon Force available to start expanding right away, because most of it was consumed by the regular maintenance of their dungeon after Raiders destroyed everything inside.  It was only when they increased their Core Improvement Level that they could purchase some things with their Points that made expansion possible; having a higher DF regeneration rate or a larger Control Limit went a long way towards creating more difficult challenges for Raiders.  By earning enough CIPs (which was usually a result of the presence or deaths of Raiders), they could acquire those things – it was a relationship between Raiders and dungeons that had worked well for tens (or perhaps hundreds) of thousands of years.

Contrary to every other Core in the world, Tacca thought she had plenty of time to expand even after she opened up – and that brought her to her second reason for doing so.  Her fourth-month countdown was approaching quickly, and she wanted to take advantage of it this time.  Not only did she want to repair the existing cracks in her Core, but she needed to gain as many CIPs as possible while she had the opportunity.  She hadn’t given up hope that the weather outside her dungeon was temporary, and she wanted to be prepared when Raiders finally arrived.

When there were only three days before her countdown finished, she finally told the confused Shale what her plan was.  The Dungeon Assistant hadn’t really said anything while she was constructing more rooms; in fact, when he realized it might be a while until someone came, he Activated his Hibernate Ability and basically slept while Tacca worked away below the Core Room.  “Shale, my countdown is almost up.  I’m going to use a method that I—I mean Tacca—told me about to boost my Core Improvement Points up as much as possible before that happens.”

He was still sleepily waking up from his Hibernation, and he was confused at what she said.  When Tacca explained the general idea, he started to pay a little more attention.  “I’ve heard of that working when the dungeon hasn’t even opened yet, because there’s usually a lot more Dungeon Force available; I guess that – even though you’re open – you probably have a lot of Force to play around with because of this weather.  How many more CIPs are you planning on boosting yourself?  Enough to get you to Core Improvement Level 3?”

Of course, “Tamara” hadn’t told Shale that she was already Level 4, because that would be revealing a bit too much about her unique origins.  “No, I think I may be able to get myself all the way up to Level 6.”

Shale seemed suitably shocked, mainly because she technically only had 135 CIPs from her previous banked amount last month, as well as what she had finished filling her dungeon with by the time she was complete.  She was going to need a total of 1,000 CIPs to get to Level 6, though for all Shale knew she actually needed 1,600 because he wasn’t aware of her previous Level increases.  “That’s impossible and you’re crazy.  If you didn’t have that massive reduction on how many CIPs you can earn, you would easily be able to do it; as it is, what you’re thinking of doing just isn’t possible, despite how much you seem to know.”

It turned out that he was partly right – she never would’ve been able to get to 1,600 CIPs, because she just barely got to 1,000.  It wasn’t because she didn’t have enough time, enough Dungeon Force, or even enough space in her dungeon to create the relatively cheap Confusion Enchantment Traps; no, it had to do with the strain that placing so many traps had on her Core.

At 600 additional traps, she started to feel like her concentration was starting to wander; at 700, her mind began to slow down, so that it felt like she was trying to wade through sticky honey; at 850, she started to feel the tell-tale