Dungeon Core Academy: Books 1-7 (A LitRPG Series) by Alex Oakchest (book suggestions txt) 📕

was some kind of disgusting creature instead of the beautiful, blood-swollen thing it was.

“That’s right, just there.”

The leech was in the center of the sphere now.

Deconstruct.

A stream of crimson light whooshed over the sphere. There was a burning aroma in the air, something like the fumes that mana lights gave off.

When the light dispersed, the leech was gone. In its place was a red pile of dust.

Item Deconstructed: Leech [Unassigned Lvl1]

Results: Vampiric dust [20% purity]

“You see, Tomlin?” I said, feeling pleased. “Leeches can drain the blood from things and use it to nourish themselves. Deconstructed to their essence, you see this. Vampiric dust.”

“What will Dark Lord do with it?”

“That’s a good question.”

One thing I puzzled over was that the vampiric dust only had 20% purity. I guessed this would dictate its effectiveness, but what decided how pure it was?

When I thought about it, only a couple of things stuck out. One, the leech was a newly made creature. It hadn’t leveled up from battle yet, and it was too simple-minded to level up through doing dungeon work.

Two, I wasn’t an alchemist.

Maybe, when using the deconstructor sphere on creatures, the higher the monster the better the purity of its essence. Added to that, a better-ranked, specialized alchemist would use the sphere better than I had.

Still, I had the beginnings of something.

“Tomlin, can you grab some iron from the deposit inventory, please?”

Tomlin trundled off, grumbling that this was no work for a cultivator, and before long he was back with five pieces of iron.

“Thank you. We need those to go onto the blue sphere.”

Tomlin placed the iron pieces on the outer edge of the sphere. Then, grumbling to himself, he picked them up and placed them again, this time in the center. Then he spent a few seconds making sure they were dead-center, and not just near it. I wondered if being a cultivator was giving him a perfectionist streak.

“Okay, great. Finally, please could you put the vampiric dust on the iron?”

He did that, and then I gave a mental command.

Create Vampiric Darts.

The whoosh of light was blue this time, and once it dispersed I saw that I was now the proud owner of 50 vampiric poisoned darts.

Vampiric Poisoned Darts

Iron darts loaded with vampiric dust. When they hit a target, they will restore health to a chosen recipient.

Lovely!

“Thanks for your help, Tomlin. You can get back to making up songs about how great you are now.”

I had to wait for my essence to regenerate before I could act on the next step in my defensive plan. While I did that, I asked Warrane and his mining crew to dig out a new room, this one near the surface door.

“A room? Right beside the surface door?” said Warrane. “This leaf wonders if that is wise.”

“Not right next to it. I still want a twenty-feet long tunnel leading from the surface door to my new room. I take it the tunnel near the door is laced with traps?”

“Tavia believed it was the best place; it would mean that Seekers are besieged by traps when they enter.”

“It would have been my first thought, too.”

“Tavia is very clever. Cleverer than this leaf.”

“I want to meet this elusive Tavia.”

“She will be back soon, Core Beno. The First-Leaf sent her out to scavenge. All leaves must do this sometimes.”

“You like her, don’t you Warrane?”

“This leaf has digging to do.”

I laughed. “Fine. Let me know when the room is ready.”

By happy coincidence, the room was finished just as my essence replenished. It hadn’t taken long. Not only were Wylie and his crew excellent miners, especially under Warrane’s supervision, but Tomlin had really done a great job cultivating essence vines.

After crafting a pedestal point in the room nearest the surface door, way, way north in the dungeon, I hopped there.

This was a thirty-foot square excavation, with only two tunnels in it. One was the tunnel leading from the surface door. The other went deeper into the dungeon. I planned that this room would serve as the first test for the Seekers.

“Puzzle time,” I said aloud, to nobody, since I was completely alone.

Puzzles

Floor Tile Patterns [Cost 250]

Riddle Doors [Cost 110]

Trick Levers [Cost 125]

Transmutation Station [Cost 500]

 

I still had no idea what a transmutation station was. I’d earned the ability to craft it when I reached level 5, but I still didn’t have enough damn essence.

Forgetting that for the time being, I spent 250 essence on a floor tile puzzle. It spread out on the ground, a 20 x 20 set of different colored floor tiles that covered the room.

Next, I pulled up my trap list.

Beartrap [Cost 50]

Pitfall [Cost 100]

Pressure Switch [Cost 50]

Poisoned darts [Cost 250]

Here was the fun part. I had 200 essence left, so I crafted four separate pressure switches, and I commanded these to go under 4 of the floor tiles.

Next, I set a vampiric dart trap. Here was where having an alchemy chamber came in handy; at 250 essence points, crafting a poisoned dart trap was expensive. Right now I could only make one at once, and I’d have to wait for my essence to recharge. Meanwhile, I wouldn’t be able to make anything else.

Since I had made my darts using the alchemy chamber, it had become a lot more economically viable to have more of them, and all it had cost me was 15 essence for a leech, and 5 pieces of metal that Wylie had mined for me.

I sensed I was only scratching the surface of what the alchemy chamber could really do, but it was a start.

Now, I set the vampiric iron darts in the walls and linked them to the pressure switches using essence.

Done! One