The Crafter's Dilemma: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (miss read books .txt) 📕

“I’m sure that I probably would’ve learned more about working with Enchanters wielding different elements…if the Academy were still there,” Violet said sadly after she had successfully connected everything together.  “But I guess there’s no substitution for working in the field, is there?” she asked wistfully.

* There is some truth to that.  Now that we have this figured out, we can finish this. *

The next part seemed quite easy in comparison to their difficulties earlier.  Sandra created the Fire-based enchantment, connecting it directly to the pommel and running it around the rest of the haft, before completing the simple rune sequence for the main enchantment there.  Before it was completed, Violet added the Activate rune sequence where Sandra indicated it needed it to go, which she did flawlessly – even though Sandra split it so there were two activation areas.

On either side of the warhammer – the flat head and the spike on the other – there was now a spot that would activate the Fireburst enchantment, a relatively simple and basic enchantment that was normally not that powerful.  Upon striking something, it would emit a small burst of flames that conveyed a bit of fire damage to a target, but it was more focused than, say, a Flame Edge enchantment – which would coat an entire blade with flames that could be used repeatedly.

Fireburst, on the other hand, typically only conveyed the flames in short spurts in a concentrated area, instead of an entire slice with a sword.  It wasn’t used as much because it was only activated when something came in contact with the activation portion of it, which could make it a bit hazardous to carry it around.  Flame Edge and others like it could be activated and deactivated with the simple placement of hands on the hilt in a specific way, and the flames would go away when the wielder wanted it to.

With the Average Fire Energy Orb with the Limiter rune attached to the Fireburst enchantment, however, and the flow of energy turned up a bit, Sandra was hoping for some more impressive results.  Once the enchantment was done, she took it outside the workshop with her Steelclad Ape Warrior and tested it.

Whoops – too much!

When the Ape swung the enchanted Titanium warhammer down to hit the dirt, there was a discharge of flames that was so powerful it blasted a large hole in the ground, partly destroyed the head of the warhammer, bent the haft of the weapon, and launched the Ape backwards through the air; when it landed, about 80 feet away, the impact deformed both of the construct’s legs and one of its arms.  Fortunately, it wasn’t destroyed completely, but a Repair Drone needed about 15 minutes to get it back to normal.

“Whoa – what was that?” Gerold asked when he came running up on the Jaguar shortly after the unexpected explosion.  “Are you under attack?”  Felbar was right behind him, looking ready to attack anything that moved.

* No, everything is alright; I was experimenting with an enchantment that didn’t quite go the way I was expecting.  Sorry for alarming you. *

“That…was an enchantment?” Felbar asked, shock on his face.  “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

* Yes, well, I think I know what I did wrong; with a hopefully simple adjustment, that shouldn’t happen again. That was a mistake on my part – I’m just glad I tested it outside the workshop. *

“That was a mistake?  I could see some potential uses for something like that,” Echo asked, coming back from her visit to her village.  Sandra realized she was broadcasting her response to everyone in the vicinity, which she thought included Felbar, Gerold, and Violet down in the workshop; she wasn’t expecting the Elf back so soon from her trip, but apparently she didn’t want to spend any more time there than was needed.

Sandra had been so focused on crafting and testing the enchantments that she hadn’t really been paying attention to the immediate area; if she had started the test a minute or so later, there was a possibility that the others might’ve been hurt by the explosion.  The Dungeon Core quickly looked around her AOI to make sure she hadn’t missed anything else while she was so focused elsewhere and was relieved when nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  Or, as ordinary as a Phoenix hunting down any remaining Specters in the open air and her Rolling Constructs finishing up the elimination of all of the smaller Undead roaming around was.

* I’m glad you’re all back, because I wanted to talk to everyone about what the plan is for taking out the Undead dungeon.  However, before we do that, why doesn’t everyone except Violet wind down a little, get something to eat, and maybe even take a nice relaxing bath before we get started – because we have a lot to go over followed up by a lot of work. *

They were more than agreeable to that, especially Gerold – who was still obviously dealing with the rejection by his people.  Echo perked up at the mention of a bath, though she mentioned something that made Sandra a little worried.  “That sounds like a great idea, but there’s also something I heard while in the village that may be a cause for concern for the future.  It’s nothing urgent, so I’ll tell you later.”

When the War Machine was parked back in the partially destroyed workshop and Sandra sent the Mechanical Jaguar Queen to go roam around the wastelands, Sandra got back to work with Violet.  The warhammer had been so damaged that some of the enchantment on it was damaged as well, so they had to basically start over.  Fixing it in the state in was in was out of the question, but fortunately Sandra had made