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

floor tile puzzle laced with vampiric darts. When the seekers reached this room, they would have to solve the puzzle and step on the correct tiles, or they would get an arse full of leech-powered iron spikes.

But that wasn’t all. What kind of dungeon core would I be if I left it there?

“Gary?” I said. I used my inner core voice now, which allowed me to talk to my created monsters from across the dungeon. “Could you meet me in the northernmost room, please?”

Soon enough, I heard a squelching sound. Eight squelching sounds, in fact, one after another, getting closer and closer until there he was – spider-leech Gary, with his gooey, teeth-lined legs, his hulking frame made of stone, and his bulging half-dozen eyes.

“Ah, Core Beno! I had expected you would be too busy to talk to little old me today.”

“I have a job for you, Gary.”

“Good, Good. You must have finished the loot room. This isn’t it, is it?”

“No. I’ve decided on a different job for you in this dungeon. See, common dungeon sense dictates that you save the toughest surprises for last. You know, hit the heroes when they’re weakest.”

“A sensible tactic. Warfare at its finest, if I may say so. I do so enjoy tearing a man limb from limb just when he sees victory in his grasp.”

“This dungeon is a little different, and I need to plan my defenses differently. I’m going to station you here, Gary.”

He looked around now, his several eyes wide and unblinking. It was a disconcerting sight, let me tell you. And I was the one who had created him. He truly had a face even his creator couldn’t love, the poor guy.

“Here?” he said. His voice sounded wounded. “In the very first room of the dungeon?”

I understood why he sounded so down about it. I tried to think of it from his point of view.

Have you ever done that? Tried to see things from the point of view of a giant stone spider with leeches for legs? It gives you an entirely new outlook on life.

Thinking along those lines, I guessed this would feel like a demotion for Gary. He had been created as a boss monster, as a centerpiece of a dungeon. The final, monstrous creature who the heroes had to face. And now, well now he was at the front of the dungeon.

“So I am to be the maître-d of the dungeon?” he said. “Standing at the front of the house. Welcoming the heroes. Hello, sir. Can I take your coat? Can I show you to your first puzzle? Would you like a kobold appetizer to sharpen your sword on?”

“I’d prefer it if you tore them apart instead of making them comfortable.”

“I must say, Core Beno, I am really quite perturbed. And I am sorry to use such harsh language with you.”

“Gary, I’m sorry about this. Really, I am. But dungeons evolve, and the threats to them evolve. My defenses have to evolve along with it. I’m going to have to demote you.”

“I…I won’t be a boss monster anymore?”

“I’m sorry, Gary.”

I felt like such a jerk. I had brought Gary into my first dungeon, after all. I had created him in the melding room by combining a spider, leech, and stone-troll. He hadn’t asked to come here. It wasn’t as if I had heard a knocking on my door, and found this spider monstrosity standing there with a sign that read ‘boss monster for hire.’

It had to be done, though. The stakes were much higher in this dungeon, and my opponents were tougher. I’d need a boss monster to match.

One of the fundamental laws of a dungeon was that there could only be one monster at a time. There was nothing I could do to change that; if I made a new one, then the unseen spirits that governed dungeon rules would just melt Gary into ooze.

I couldn’t let that happen.

The only other way was to demote him. It’d mean he’d lose boss monster status, and he’d lose a lot of his attack and defense powers along with it, but it was my only choice.

Demote monster: Gary

Gary grew a little smaller. Only by a foot, but enough to lose some of his intimidating look. His skin was still made from stone, but patches look blacker now, like a normal spider skin.

Note: Do spiders have skin? Question to ask Breedmaster Hulle if I ever see him.

He hung his head now. I swear to you, I saw a tear form on one of his spider eyes.

When I looked at that, I felt it like a kick in the stomach from a giant troll. This was part of leadership, I knew. The academy had always taught us cores to be cold. After all, it was part of coredom that we’d watch our creatures get hurt and killed.

I was becoming too attached to them. That was what Overseer Bolton would tell me.

I didn’t want to lose that part of me completely, because I believed that fostering a bond with my creatures made us stronger as a whole. But I needed to toughen up just a little.

“That’ll be all for now, Gary. I’ll need you to guard this room and battle any seekers who enter. If you want to eat them, you can, but save any weapons and loot.”

“Eat them?” said Gary, shocked. “Why would I do such a horrible thing?”

“Okay, don’t get like that! Some boss monsters like to eat their kills, that’s all.”

“That’s repulsive, Core Beno. So uncultured. I like to think I have more class about me and not only that, but more of a soul. No, I won’t eat them. I will simply murder them.”

 “Good. The tiles on the floor are trapped, and stepping on them shoots vampiric darts. I have linked the vampiric