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

killing those two brown foxes.  I wonder if that’s what we felt afterward?” Sterge asked, acknowledging that he did feel what Gwenda had at the same time.  He also noticed that some of his skills had increased by either 1% or 2%, though what that actually meant was anyone’s guess.

“Probably.  I see the exact same thing on my Status; I’m assuming that when we reach 100 Power we might increase our Raider Level.  Of course, I’m not sure what that would do…though I have to admit that I’m eager to find out,” Gwenda said with a smile.  She was standing up straight again and the previous exhaustion that had overtaken her seemed to have completely disappeared.

“So…I’m guessing that means you want to keep going?  From what little I know about dungeons and the beasts that inhabit them these things will only get stronger the farther we travel down them.  I’m not sure I can handle killing another…uh…90-something of those foxes in order to see what Raider Level 2 is all about.”

She shook her head.  “No, I don’t mean today, I mean eventually.  We don’t have to rush this, especially as this is our first dungeon…but yes, I would like to keep going if you’re up to it.”

Sterge wasn’t seriously hurt – though he thought he might have a bruise later where that fox bit him – so he didn’t really have a major reason for stopping.  If that’s what she wants, then I think we can venture in a little more.  “Fine, but at the first sign of serious danger, we’re turning back and fleeing.  We can maybe come back later when we’re a bit better prepared; though, I want to make sure we report this place to get our reward.  The last thing we need is for someone else to find it and claim the reward ahead of us.”

“Fair enough…now onward, my fair protector!” Gwenda said, pointing towards the far exit with her stick.

He chuckled as he obeyed his best friend by walking down the flower-strewn pathway cautiously, and he made sure to stay away from where she was pointing her wooden weapon.  I’m not sure I want to get hit by one of those “Magistrike” spells – they look like they hurt.  He laughed internally as he considered how much of a difference a day could make; just yesterday, the biggest threat to his livelihood was a bunch of rabbits eating their produce in their fields.  Today, however, he was fighting brown foxes with bark-like fur that wanted to bite and scratch him to death.

Quite the change of pace, I must say.  Sterge never imagined he’d be doing something like this, but he had to admit that he kind of liked it – at least for a side job.  He had his fields and livestock to take care of, after all…

Chapter 22

Tacca was fully aware she slipped up again when Shale relayed what the two Hill Dwarves were talking about outside of her dungeon.  She had been distracted at the time because she had heard it all as she observed them from the entrance, and she wasn’t thinking straight; the former Dungeon Assistant had remembered too late that she shouldn’t be able to understand Common Tradespeak as a new Core.  Regardless, she tried to move on as if nothing had happened and Shale hadn’t brought it up, so she concentrated on the two Raiders entering her dungeon.

Though, “Raiders” might not be the right word for them; even though they were Hill Dwarves and their height was normal to them, to Tacca they still looked like children who had put on their parents’ mismatched clothing and armor to play around in.  It was obvious even before seeing them almost get hurt from her two Root Foxes near the entrance that they were as brand-new as could be.  Especially when the male one in leather ineffectually used the flat of his sword blade to knock one of her creatures off the female caster-type, and then lost his weapon completely when it attacked again.

The robe-wearing Hill Dwarf seemed more capable to Tacca, at least, though if the caster’s spell-casting energy was drained after only two spells, then that meant that they were extremely raw at their profession.  From what she had learned, most Raiders went through at least some sort of training before they even attempted to invade a dungeon; what exactly that entailed, no one at DAPS had known, however.  From what she overheard them saying after the fight only confirmed that they were woefully unprepared for what they were doing.

Not only that, but she also learned that those two were the only ones that even knew she existed.  They had mentioned that someone would probably come along and find her dungeon eventually, but what length of time that might be was a mystery.  What wasn’t a mystery, though, was the fact that she couldn’t allow these two to die; she needed to get word out about her presence and keeping them alive would be the easiest way to do that.

All of which meant that she had to make a couple of…alterations.  Nothing too great, of course, because she didn’t want it to seem too easy, but enough that they hopefully wouldn’t get killed within the first few minutes.  Ideally, she’d love for them to be inside her dungeon for at least an hour, because that meant she would receive 1 Core Improvement Point; it was cumulative, fortunately, meaning that if they spent 59 minutes inside and then left, the next person to step inside for at least a minute would bump it up to an hour.  When that would actually be she didn’t know, so she’d rather get at least a single Point out of their presence there than nothing at all.  At least it doesn’t matter that there are only 2 of them; at their obviously low strength, the number of Points I would