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

Without a word, Shadow left by the west tunnel. Warrane gave me a last look. “This leaf will deliver Gary to you.”

This left me and my kobolds alone, and my mind was whirring in all different directions.

“I need tunnels and traps,” I said. “Miners, I’ll need you to change the tunnels that lead here from the cavern. Carve out as many new openings, dead ends, false turns as you can in an hour. First sign of the Wrotun, get back here to the loot room. This is where we’ll hold out.”

Maginhart, who was the de-facto miner supervisor without Warrane and Wylie here, stood at the head of the mining team. “An hour is barely enough time to dig a single tunnel opening, Dark Lord. We feel you are unrealistic in your expectations.”

“I didn’t expect to be attacked on two fronts at once, with one of the attackers being the people who brought me here to defend them. If I’m a little too demanding, it's just a stress response. Just do what you can, Maginhart. Though I don’t think it’ll be enough.”

“Tomlin can help.”

“You’d help them dig?” I said. I was pleasantly surprised. Tomlin had always hated digging. He hated physical labor and had been all too happy to shirk it when I created a dedicated mining team.

Was he doing this for the dungeon? For his clanmates? Pushing back his personal disliked of graft for the good of his…dare I say it...family?

“No, Tomlin will not dig.”

“Oh.”

“But he has cultivated some red essence. Not much, Dark Lord must realize. But Tomlin knows what it does.”

“That’s great! So tell me, Tomlin. This will be your chance to educate the dark lord for once.”

“Red essence makes a creature stronger. If Tomlin ate it, he would become a better cultivator. If bard ate it, he may learn how to hold a tune.”

Brecht glared at Tomlin now, while the rest of the anti-seeker kobold squad smirked.

“I understand,” I said. “The red essence increases a creature’s class level. Fine, now I need to decide who gets it. How much is there?”

“Tomlin thinks only four servings.”

“And then it’d be used up, and I wouldn’t be able to cultivate more. The red essence will be gone for good. But if we don’t use it, we’re all dead. Decisions, decisions.”

It was an easy decision, really. Logically, it was better to boost my chances of staying alive now, rather than saving the red essence for a future I may not get the chance to enjoy.

The problem was, I’d be doing the exact thing that everyone looked down on Core Jahn for. I’d be eating all the red essence, instead of cultivating it. For a core, it was the ultimate show of ill-discipline.

Still, what could I do?

“If I might say so,” said Brecht. “My guys should get the essence. We’re your primary strike force. A sharpened sword slips easier into the gut.”

“But if Tomlin eats red essence he becomes better cultivator, and can make more purple essence to regenerate Dark Lord’s powers.”

At this point, I’d have been stroking my chin if I had one. “Then again, maybe neither of you should get it. Maginhart, you and the miners will eat the essence.”

“What?” shouted Brecht. “You cannot be serious. You-”

“Enough!” I boomed. I decided that this was a time when the tyrannical side of me was best shown. Maybe that was the trick; finding a balance. “The next kobold to question me will find himself nailed to the dungeon ceiling near the surface door as a little welcoming gift to the seekers. Maginhart, miners, eat the red essence. It will improve your mining abilities. Dig as many false turns as you can; make it difficult to find the core room.”

“Yesss, hisss dark magnificence.”

“Brecht, I want the anti-seeker squad stationed near the surface doors. There’s a puzzle floor loaded with pressure plates, and stepping on them fires vampiric darts from the walls. They won’t hurt you, but if any Seekers take damage, it will heal you. Give them the bloodiest welcome they’ve ever had in this dungeon.”

“Yes, Dark Lord.”

“Fungi-thing, send one of your ooze forms to the surface door, another to west to where the Wrotun will emerge. Get your intel, feed it to your hivemind, and then create as many elemental undead ooze as you can. Even if you eventually get so small you’re creating fly-sized ones. I want this loot room heaving with jelly.”

This left just Tomlin. Dear, cowardly Tomlin. He was avoiding eye contact with me now. I knew he was dreading getting an order to fight. At the same time, he wouldn’t want to be shown up in front of the rest of them, and I didn’t want to humiliate him.

“Tomlin,” I said. “Take a sword from the inventory room. Then, stay in the core room. Guard the spring. If any Seekers make it there, I want you to show them the sword and convince them that it is artificed, and that it holds the power to destroy the spring entirely. That might make them pause. Hopefully, they won’t make it that far.”

“Tomlin will do so.”

“Then let’s get busy, my friends.”

CHAPTER 25

It was five minutes when that messages appeared in the air in front of me.

Maginhart is now a level 20 [Miner]

Unnamed Kobold 1 is now a level 16 [Miner]

Unnamed Kobold 2 is now a level 19 [Miner]

Unnamed Kobold 3 is now a level 15 [Miner]

Ah, they must have eaten the red essence. As welcome and impressive as it was to see their mining levels increase so much, it bothered me that there were still kobolds in my dungeon who didn’t have names.

It didn’t seem right. Some of them might die today. No, some would certainly die. I wouldn’t