The Crafter's Dungeon: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (literature books to read TXT) 📕

him out of their land.  Regardless, it wasn’t them at first who needed their help, it was the Orcs – his father’s people, whether he liked it or not.

* I’m glad you asked!  Initially, the only thing I want you to do is learn; I have a lot to teach you if you want to become the greatest Blacksmith in all of Orcrim. *

“What are you talking about?  I can’t ever go back there – they’ll kill me on sight.”

* Yes…that’s an issue we’ll have to deal with later.  In the meantime, we need to see what we can do to make you so invaluable that they won’t touch you. *

Kelerim wasn’t so sure he’d ever be too invaluable to not kill outright, but he went along with it anyway.  It wasn’t like he had anything else to do, or anywhere else to go, so he figured he might as well see what she was talking about.

Another Ironclad Ape appeared at the opposite tunnel of where he had entered the “dining room”, and with a mental urging from Sandra, he followed it through another tunnel.  The tunnel itself sloped gently upwards, and he guessed it would eventually lead out from the dungeon; the thought of trying to escape again briefly flitted through his mind, but after talking with the Dungeon Core, he realized that he didn’t have anywhere to go.

Although he was told he wasn’t a prisoner of the dungeon, he was basically a prisoner to his circumstances; he could leave at any time, but without a firm destination in mind, he was essentially lost.  Even if he traveled to the land of the Gnomes – which was his initial thought when he was wandering the wasteland above – he didn’t have any prospects there and would be at the mercy of the Gnomish people.  And after Sandra told him that those Bearlings were still up there somewhere, he doubted he would even make it that far.

So his best bet was to stay in the dungeon – as strange as that sounded – until he could come up with a better plan.  There was guaranteed food and water, at least, and that hadn’t always been the case when he was living in Orcrim.  In fact, it had only been over the last year as a Blacksmith that meals occurred regularly, as it was his payment for his work.  That, and the small shack he called his home – which was little more than a place barely large enough to lay down in.

Kelerim arrived at another room, which was nearly twice as large as the dining room, and he instantly felt at home.  A decent-sized forge – though it was barely recognizable as one, because it looked so different from what he was used to – sat off to one side of the room, and nearby he saw an iron anvil, a long stone workbench, a full set of grinding wheels of different textures, and along the wall…the tools of the Blacksmithing trade, hung up on little stone protrusions embedded into the wall itself.  Tongs, chisels, hammers, files – everything he had used before, and even a few that he was unfamiliar with – were there, just waiting for him to pick them up.

As much as he was forced into the profession, after a while he had realized that he had enjoyed the work.  The long hours and weapon quotas he could’ve done without, of course; regardless, he felt a sense of pride and accomplishment whenever he finished a blade.  And here, as if it were waiting for him, was a forge all his own.  At least, he assumed so, since it didn’t look like it had been used before.

* This is your forge, though I haven’t had a chance to set the traps up that will operate it all yet.  I built the rest of this over the last week, in the hopes that you would want to stay, but if you decided against it, I would’ve had my Ironclad Ape in here crafting instead.  It will still be present to teach you some new techniques, but I will essentially have this room keyed to you. 

 

* I needed a catalyst to tie the two main trap elements needed for this together – Fire and Earth – and you are the perfect choice.  Once I do that, anytime you’re in the room, the forge fires will work and the grinding wheels will spin for you, but I’ll show you how that will work a little later. *

“Why am I, what did you call it, ‘the perfect choice’?”  Kelerim didn’t really know what she meant by traps.

* What?  Oh, sorry, it’s because of the two elements you have access to – Fire and Earth.  Since you have a bit of an affinity with them, tying these two traps into you will work, like I said, perfectly. *

What is she talking about?  I can only use Fire, and only a little bit at that.  He told her as much, and her voice faded from his head for a moment.  When it came back, she seemed as confused as he was.

* It must be some sort of untapped potential you have inside you.  I doubt my bonding would be wrong, as it somehow knew what you had access to, despite your lack of knowledge of the ability.  Anyway, it shouldn’t affect what I’m going to do, so hold on. *

Kelerim stood in the middle of the room, his mind whirling at the new information he had received.  I have access to Earth elemental energy?  He wished he had been born in a place that knew more about the different elemental energies, or at least in place that shared that knowledge more than in Orcrim.  Although he didn’t know what difference it would’ve made, he couldn’t help but think that being able to use it during his