The Crafter's Dilemma: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (miss read books .txt) 📕

* That’s not going to do much good against these Undead, Echo; you’re better off getting below where it’s safe. *

The Elf reluctantly nodded and grabbed her bow, slipping it around her shoulder by its string.  As she was running past the Gnomes, however, Felbar reached out to Echo and grabbed her by the arm.  “Please, would you take Violet with you?  I’m staying here to help defend this room.”

* What are you doing, Felbar?  It’s not safe up here— *

“There’s no way I’m letting those vile monsters get a chance to destroy this War Machine, especially now that it’s complete,” Felbar said, cutting Sandra off.  “And I’m pretty sure you don’t want to lose all those supplies in that wagon over there, so you’re going to need my help.”

He…had a point – or at least a half-point.  The wagon she could absorb and create the supplies – if not the wagon itself – immediately somewhere else, like one of the empty rooms she had created earlier.  The War Machine, though, would be…painful for her to destroy; she couldn’t take the risk that one of the undead could figure out how to use the Gnome construct, especially now that it didn’t require someone with a certain elemental energy to control it.  With all of the hard work put into it – especially all the enchantments – losing it would feel like she had just bought a foal, raised it until it was a full-grown and trained horse, and then been forced to sell it before she had a chance to ride it.

Time was running out before the Undead arrived, however, and Sandra couldn’t afford to argue anymore.

* Fine, stay or go – that’s your decision.  I would prefer it if you were safe down below, but if you feel the need to help I’m not going to stop you.  Once the girls are through the doorway to my VATS, though, I’m sealing it until the danger has passed; all access to the safer rooms below will be cut off, so if you need to retreat you’ll be stuck here.  Are you still sure you want to stay? *

Echo had already picked up Violet and easily carried the Gnome through the doorways to the VATS, not even bothering with seeing if Felbar was coming.  “Yes, I’m staying.  Now…is there any way you can have one of your constructs give me a boost?”

She had two of her Steelclad Ape Warriors stationed in the room to help with any crafting via the forge in the workshop or anything else that needed their assistance, and one of them quickly ran over and practically tossed the Gnome into the pilot’s enclosure.  Steadying himself, Felbar reached up to close and secure the Titanium gate covering the front of the War Machine before strapping himself into the leather harness.  When he was secure and correctly placed, it lifted him slightly off the floor of the enclosure, allowing him to literally run in place; his feet would touch the control modules under them, and because of the Pressure Feedback runes there it would translate his movements to the construct.

Felbar’s hands went to the wooden protrusions in front of him, fingers immediately finding where they needed to go to control the arms – and subsequently the weapons permanently attached to the ends.  With a great jerk the entire construct moved…and promptly fell on its back.  The Gnome seemed shocked for a moment, but then he started to chuckle.

“Uh…that was a lot more sensitive than I expected.  Hold on—” he said, before manipulating the controls to turn over the War Machine.  In seconds he had gotten the construct to its knee joints and then back to its feet shortly thereafter.  “Ok, I think I’ve got a handle on it now.”

Sandra watched as Felbar cautiously walked forward, followed by some simple movements to test everything out.  When it appeared as though he was moving everything well enough, the Dungeon Core left him to his own devices – backed up by the 20 Unstable Shapeshifters in their unshifted forms that were still inside the room.  Since they had been Enchanting for nearly an hour, they didn’t have a lot of “Shift-time” left, but every little bit might count.

Looking around her dungeon, she saw that everything was as prepared as it was going to be – all except a quick change to the very first room.  A quick check of her available Mana showed that it was currently a little over 17,000 and she pictured rubbing her hands together in anticipation as she eliminated the Nether-based trap already there.  The lessons she had with Echo and all of the enchantments being done lately had given her some ideas, and she thought she had more than enough resources to put them into play.

Using Holy and Fire elements together, she tied a brand-new trap to a single Martial Totem she left in there, moving the others further down the dungeon.  An earlier experiment trying to enchant one of her constructs ended in failure, despite Sandra thinking it might work because they could enchant Elemental Orbs and Cube; however, Winxa said it was due to the enchantment being separate from the Orbs and Cubes, not actually a part of them.  She’d never had the opportunity to actually use one of her Dungeon Monsters as the trap before, so she figured she’d try.

First was a dual shield made from Holy Mana that surrounded her Martial Totem.  One layer of the shield mimicked the same thing Echo did to become “invisible”; the other was the same bubble of protection that she had first made when trying out her casting abilities.  The protection bubble would prevent both physical and Nether-based effects from reaching her Totem – at least until the Mana charged in it was used up (which should take a while, because she was pumping a lot into the trap).  In addition, when the