The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) by Jonathan Brooks (e book reading free txt) 📕

should be plenty to keep them occupied for a while; creating any more would likely be excessive at that point in time.

She also checked on the progress of the 4 new Cores and their dungeons and found that her initial estimate of when they would open to the world was quite premature.

“While they can upgrade their Core Size and expand their Area of Influence quickly, they still have to create their dungeon – which takes time,” Winxa told Sandra when the Dungeon Core asked about the delay…not that she was complaining.  “If you remember, it took you weeks just to make your rooms up to the surface; ‘normal’ Cores can take months or years to reach that point.  It’s coming, but from what you’re saying of their progress you likely have a few weeks before they become a problem.”

That gave her some time, at least; time that would allow help to arrive from what the others were doing.  I wonder what’s keeping them?  They should have easily been at their destinations days ago, so what’s taking so long?   She didn’t bother to communicate her thoughts toward the Dungeon Fairy, though, because it was unlikely she had any news about their whereabouts, either.

She also spent the night finishing up the accumulation of Wyvines for the Elves, so that all of the Rangers now had them – though they would receive them in the morning.  As of now, all of the Wyvines that were already paired with the Elves were cautiously hunting in trios throughout each forest; they weren’t as effective without the long-distance attacks of the Rangers, despite their deadliness in a fight.  It was only through a group setting that they were able to take down many of the Beasts and Slimes that were still roaming around, though the Wyvines’ weakness quickly became apparent – their scaly hides were barely any protection against piercing attacks like claws or bites.  That first night, an entire trio of Wyvines were killed by a large bear that was half again the size of the lizard-cats after it practically disemboweled them with a few swipes of its claws.  Sandra, of course, replaced them so that the Elves wouldn’t notice.

Their vulnerabilities indicated that they weren’t ideal to roam around at night by themselves or even in a group; they performed awesomely with the Rangers, but weren’t great without them.  What that meant to Sandra was that she would have to create a team of constructs similar to what was being used with the Golems and Goblins to curb the expansion of Dungeon Monsters near the Elves at night.  Which, in turn, meant even more Mana she would have to expend towards their defense.

Fortunately, in addition to creating even more Energy Orbs over the night, she also expanded her Nets enough that she finally hit 1,000,000 Mana absorbed every day – or nearly 42,000 Mana every hour.  It required nearly 16,000 Tarantulas roaming around the wasteland and 24,000 Shears floating high above it, but it was done; luckily, the Clockwork Tarantulas weren’t extraordinarily visible because they were so spread out, and Sandra kept them from congregating together or making recognizable patterns or pathways.  Because of that, she was relatively sure that even if one of the other Cores saw a few of them they wouldn’t think they were making up an entire Net that was composed of many thousands of them.

When morning hit, she contacted Chryla – who had continued to be her go-to Elf now that Echo was gone.

* I’m sending you more Energy Orbs inside of a chest to distribute to your people; it’ll arrive very soon on a floating slab of stone, so don’t be alarmed when you see it. *

She had already sent out the Animated Slab a little earlier – because she knew it would take a while to arrive – with a fairly sizable chest of nearly 200 Energy Orbs, which was over half of her production over the last few days.  Sandra knew she had to continue to provide the Orbs to them so that she fulfilled her side of the bargain; for all she knew, Echo and Elder Herrlot were counting on more to arrive to secure the help they needed.  Through the use of elemental energy – such as what Echo used – to run faster, she knew that such a delivery might only take a week or less.

“Thanks, Sandra; those will help our people greatly.”

* I also have a full complement of Wyvines for all of the Rangers, which should be coming with the Energy Orbs… *

“That’s excellent; I can tell you that the other Rangers that hadn’t received one yet were a little jealous,” Chryla said mirthfully.  “Was…there something else?”

* Well…I hate to ask, but do you still have all of the dungeon loot you’ve accumulated over the last few days? *

The Ranger seemed confused.  “Uh…yes we do.  Why?”

Sandra explained to Chryla – and the other Rangers, who had emerged from their tree-like homes to see the young Ranger talking to the air – what she had told Delarthe the night before, and how it would be greatly beneficial to her if she could have them.

“Well, I can’t speak for everyone else, but I don’t see a problem with it.  Normally, we’re supposed to send those back to the capital; with the Energy Orbs you’re bringing, though, I doubt they will miss them.”  The others agreed with Chryla, stating that they themselves didn’t really have a use for the loot.  “Those back home might miss it, but I think they won’t care as much with the additional Energy Orbs we’ll be sending.”

Before too long, the Animated Slab arrived at the village of Avensglen and dropped off the new Wyvines and the chest full of Energy Orbs, and at the same time the rest of the Wyvines emerged from the forests to meet up with the Rangers they were